Fire destroys apartment, 7 year old injured

And in another piece of bad news, a fire this morning, just before the accident, charred an apartment on the upper flat of a complex in the Fabers Road Extension Area. The apartment complex housed six families; most of them were away at the time. The incident occurred at about ten-fifteen this morning when the apartment occupied by upholster, Alex Garbutt, was engulfed in flames. His spouse, Keisha Garbutt and their two kids were inside when the fire broke, seven year old Joshua Garbutt suffered burns on the upper body.

Duane Moody, Reporting
This was the home of a family of four, only the mother and her two kids were in the apartment went it went up in flames. According to witnesses, the incident occurred so quickly that everything perished in the flames. Neighbours and witnesses say they tired to help. Neighbour Gladys Locke said she was on her way from a nearby shop when she was felt the heat wave coming from the building.

Gladys Locke, Neighbour
“Actually, I mi gwein go buy wah coke and I just feel wah heat and I look round. And when I look round I just continue pan my way to di store and when I come back I see smoke. But when I si smoke, I continue run come and I ask my ma dah weh happen. I si di two lee bwai dehn di jump down from di back up da side and my bredda gone up the get the gial out because di pa mi deh dah work and di gial mi inside wid di two kids. She da supervisor dah Ready Call and she mi di get ready fi go dah work and stuff. Di smaller one run inside into the fire and get burn but noh really burn; nothing fi talk about. Di bigger one he tell ih ma smoke, I smell smoke. And she bwai noh di fool round. And den she run outside and she si di smoke and dah den my bredda gone up through di back and get out di ma. Dehn noh save absolutely nothing. Yesterday I si di bwai dah di house, he ker up some padded set and thing, just fix up his table, chairs and so and everything, everything burn.”

Shannon Vernon, Rescued Victims
“I live cross di house deh so right and I mi gwein go bathe but I si smoke and I run out ah di bathroom and I run out and I si di young lady up pan di veranda deh. So I climb up and I tell she mek she climb out pan me but she climb out pan me and she di hold on. But I tell she mek she climb pan di burglar bars but she noh di climb pan dat; she di hook on pan me. So she slide down pan me and she drop pan di step. And so di kids dehn come through di door cause dehn mi done deh pan di veranda but smoke just mi di pile up and yoh cant si nothing. So I just tell she I have to go fi di baby dehn and me and wah young bwai weh name Kashief we run upstairs back and we deh in deh and we just bring down di baby dehn and dah just dat mi di happen.”

Duane Moody
“Anybody get burned?”

Shannon Vernon
“Di baby got wah lee bun pan ih forehead yah so cause he mi deh inna di room wen di fire start happen and like he wake up and he get frighten and he run out. And when he run out he get wah lee burn pan ih forehead, yeah. She mi can’t get ih kids because di fire deh inside, she deh pan di veranda and ih kids deh ova di next side and di fire deh between dehn so she can’t get they.”

Janet, Lives in Apartment Next-door
“Di neighbour next-door, Mr. Roy, hail we and wen we notice di lee baby deh in deh di cry so I gone by di door and di gial di halla fi me and tell me must get out di lee baby and thing. So he mi done mi di come out so I mi just need fi just haul ah out and thing.”

Duane Moody
“I understand dat di baby run into di fire though.”

Janet
“He mi di try go back cause fi he ma deh in deh and he di cry to yo check. Den I haul ah back and ih come out and thing.”

The fire department responded within minutes to the scene of the fire and readily got into gear to battle the flames.

Michael Middleton, Divisional Officer, Fire Department
“We immediately got into operation and extinguished this fire r brought this fire under control within five to ten minutes.”

Duane Moody
“Okay, so far have you found out what has been the cause of the fire?”

Michael Middleton
“The cause presently is unknown, but the area where it started was in the kitchen area near the bedroom wall. We rule out the stove because we checked the stove and all the knobs were in the off position. So it wouldn’t start at the stove but it was started by some other means which we don’t know at this moment.”

Landlady, Linda Kelly, says that it will be very costly to repair the damages caused by the fire but on the bright side, no one was injured.

Linda Kelly, Landlady
“Part of your apartment complex is gone.”

Duane Moody
“What are you going to do about that?”

Linda Kelly
“I will try to rebuild it.”

Duane Moody
“Rebuild, how hard was it to get it where—what will be the cost that had been incurred to rebuild?”

Linda Kelly
“Well, it was very hard to get it where it was but I don’t know bout a ten or fifteen thousand to build back here.”

Duane Moody
“You live immediately next door. Did the fire get into your house or anything of that sort?”

Janet
“Just smoke and thing you know thank God.”

Duane Moody reporting for News Five.

The family lost everything inside their home.