Neighbours recall early morning fire that left child hospitalised

A nine-year-old boy was reportedly fighting for his life on Monday after being rescued from a devastating early Sunday fire at a Maynards, St Peter, apartment, as fire officials warned residents to take greater care with household electrical equipment.

The Barbados Fire Service received the emergency call at 3:46 a.m., dispatching two water tankers and multiple officers to the ten-unit housing complex. On arrival, emergency crews found one of the units engulfed in flames.

“A nine-year-old child suffered some degree of smoke inhalation and had to be pulled from the unit before the arrival of the fire service,” Divisional Commander Patrick Edwards told Barbados TODAY. “He was immediately taken to hospital for treatment.”

Next-door neighbour Donna O’Neil said: “My sister was saying, ‘Get up, it is a fire.’ I saw fire and I thought she meant outside, but she said: ‘No, the apartment next door is burning.’ 

“We are getting the news now that they had to induce a coma for the little boy because he is not breathing properly on his own. Right now he is in the hospital in a coma, and his mother is in the hospital too.”

O’Neil described a chaotic scene as community members scrambled to safety and attempted to rescue the trapped family amid a loud explosion.

“I heard something say ‘boom’. The neighbours from below came and tried to help get the little boy out of the bedroom,” she said. “I had to run back up, put on clothes, and try to get my mom and my daughter down. That was the only thing I was worrying about. We had to run out and leave everything in the house.”

The boy’s mother was also rushed for emergency medical treatment after inhaling heavy smoke during the rescue effort: “I think they put her on oxygen because she breathed in all that smoke straight to get her son out, so she is in the hospital too.”

Firefighters brought the inferno under control, but the property sustained catastrophic structural damage. Commander Edwards explained that, while the upper level avoided direct flames, the intense heat and severe water damage on the ground floor had rendered the home uninhabitable.

National Housing Corporation officials later visited the property to secure the premises, boarding up damaged windows and changing the locks while alternative housing options were explored for the displaced family of four.

Commander Edwards issued a broader public advisory about household hazards. While stressing that the general warning was not an official statement on the cause of the Maynards blaze, he said there was an alarming trend across the island.

“I want to make public the plea of asking people to be a little bit more careful, especially when they are using electrical devices.”

The senior fire official highlighted low-quality mobile phone chargers, overloaded circuits and substandard extension leads as primary causes of domestic fires. He expressed concern that consumers frequently prioritised cheap prices over safety standards, unwittingly buying cords unable to handle basic electrical currents.

“Because much of the wire is not designed to carry the load that is being demanded by that particular electrical device, this eventually poses problems,” he explained, pointing out that residents often worsened the danger by leaving inadequate equipment plugged in continuously.

Commander Edwards noted that homes remained significantly more vulnerable to structural fires than commercial establishments because of a lack of mandatory safety regulations, fire extinguishers and routine evacuation drills. He urged the public to take immediate preventative measures in their homes to avert future tragedies.

“If they can install smoke alarms, it is highly recommended that they do,” Edwards said. “This will go a long way to reducing the events that we experienced this morning.” 

(RR)