Fire destroys one house, damages two

A late morning blaze destroyed one house and damaged two others, one of them extensively, in Military Road, Bush Hall, St Michael on Monday.

According to Divisional Officer of the Barbados Fire Service Wayne Vaughn, the report about the fire was received at 11:52 a.m. and two tenders with ten officers from the Bridgetown Fire Station arrived on the scene by 12:04 p.m.

“The guys were met with one house fully engulfed in flames and they quickly got to work….About 12:28 p.m. or so, we managed to get the fire under control,” he said.

Prime Minister Mia Mottley, the Member of Parliament for St Michael North East, arrived on the scene as fire officers gained control of the blaze.

The owner of the house destroyed by fire was not present at the time but neighbour Nicholas Martindale, who lives next door in a one-bedroom house above a shop, suffered major losses.

“I was inside the shop packing the shop. I [had] now come from stocking and I smelled smoke. I went upstairs, looked [across] to see where the smoke was coming from…and realised it was coming from the house next door,” the 39-year-old man recounted.

“I ran downstairs. I had two extinguishers and another fellow that was with me, we tried to out the fire. We opened the door trying to out the fire, pull out the chair and from the time we pull out the chair, the fire just went up….”

Martindale, the sole occupant of the uninsured property, lamented that he was not able to save much.

Equally shocked was Dawn Magloire, the other neighbour whose house was damaged.

She told reporters that five people, aged three to 36, occupied the house.

“I just got a call at work telling me that the house next door was burning. I got a drop home and when I got home the whole side of the house was burning….The neighbours saved the stuff. No one was at home at the time,” Magloire said. (BT)