Total loss

A mother and son are left pondering their next move after a mid-morning blaze gutted their #2 Chapel Land, St Philip home today. It was a total loss for Cherry-Ann Smith and her teenage son who were not at home at the time of the blaze.

The fire, which began around 10:28 a.m., also damaged the home of Cherry-Ann’s mother, Carol Smith. An uncle who tried to extinguish the blaze also sustained burns to his arm.

Seven fire officers and two fire trucks responded to the blaze which was eventually extinguished at 12:22 p.m.

The charred remnants of the house that Cherry-Ann Smith and her son called home.

A distraught Cherry-Ann told Barbados TODAY that she had no idea what her next move was going to be, but her first priority was getting a place for her and her son to rest their heads tonight.

“I got the call at work that the house was on fire and I rushed home, but by the time I got home everything was gone. All I have are the clothes on my back. I really don’t know where we will sleep tonight,” said the mother, adding that the Member of Parliament for St Philip West, John King, had sent a representative from his constituency office to determine what assistance could be rendered.

She said she had only been living at her mother’s two-bedroom wood and wall house for the last three years.

Carol, whose home suffered water damage, told Barbados TODAY that she was at a loss as to how to help her daughter. She said that at the time she built the house she was working but that was no longer the case.

“Right now, I feel really bad because this incident sent my pressure up really high. I was going up the road when I saw the house burning. So I ran and put down some tomatoes that I had and run and come home, but by the time I got there it was all in flames,” she said.

“My brother got his hands burnt and he said he hurt his back trying to put out the fire. I really don’t know what I can do because I spent all of my money on this house and I am not working right now. I really don’t know how to help and it is really hurting me.”

However, an uncle who did not want to be identified said he would not dwell on the losses but on what was spared.

“I told her [Cherry-Ann] it is going to be alright. She has life and her son is alive and that is the most important thing. These days people are getting burnt up in these house fires, so when I came by the fire and heard that her son was by my sister, I was more relieved that anything. As long as she has life, everything is going to be alright,” he said.