Elderly Woman Escapes Mid-afternoon Fire on Neal Pen Road
An eighty-six year old lady had to be rescued from her house today after it caught fire. A neighbor and friends heard her crying out and they ran in to get her out before the fire extended to the rest of the house. Fire officials were called out to put out the blaze at the two story wooden and concrete house around shortly after two thirty. The two persons who lived on the top floor lost just about all their belongings to the fire, while the home of a family of four who lived in the lower flat suffered major water damage. And as Andrea Polanco found out, while no one was seriously injured, it was a close call for the elderly woman had it not been for the swift response from her neighbor.
Andrea Polanco, Reporting
An elderly woman, Eunice Arnold, is lucky to be alive tonight. She was rescued from her house at number seventeen Neal Penn Road when it caught on fire around two forty five this afternoon. Arnold, who is bedridden, was heard crying for help inside as smoke and flames were seen inside her house. Her neighbor courageously went to help, along with a few others.
Voice of: Valerie Sheran, Neighbour
“I saw smoke coming from the house and I heard her crying, so I just dashed from upstairs and I come across and I saw her in the bed can’t move. Well, I know ih can’t move and can’t walk or nothing and smoke was already in the room. But I cannot back her, so I hollered for someone. The person brakes and I don’t know who come up but I know afterwards dah who. Even though he come help me, two ah we couldn’t back ah still yet and somebody had to come help we back ah downstairs.”
Andrea Polanco
“When you got in there, what did you see?”
Voice of: Valerie Sheran
“Lot of smoke already. She was already coughing and under lot of smoke. She can’t breathe.”
Andrea Polanco
“In terms of the damage you saw upstairs; everything gone?”
Voice of: Valerie Sheran
“Everything gone. Everything. Everything. And by the time we tek ah down, I holla fi ah young lady fi call the fire engine and they come in time, like ten or fifteen minutes after we called the fire truck arrived but even though they come, everything still destroyed.”
Andrea Polanco
“I mean the fire was raging upstairs. You live across the street, what…?”
Voice of: Valerie Sheran
“I only saw smoke first and then when we come downstairs I saw the fire.”
Andrea Polanco
“What pushed you; motivated you to run upstairs?”
Voice of: Valerie Sheran
“The crying. The crying and the smoke.”
Andrea Polanco
“You figured you had to help her get out?”
Voice of: Valerie Sheran
“That’s right.”
The woman lived upstairs of the house with her son, but she was at home alone at the time of the fire. From all appearances, everything was destroyed in the wooden upper flat. It is believed that the fire started in one of the bedrooms, but the cause is not yet known.
Orin Smith
Orin Smith, Station Manager, National Fire Service
“On arrival on the scene we had smoke and flames coming through the south east corner of the building, upper flat. Following a brief size up, the fire was later brought under control and extinguished. Preliminary investigation revealed that the fire originated in a room on the south east corner of the building. Investigation into the cause is still ongoing. There was one elderly senior citizen, eighty six years of age, at home at the time of the fire and she was taken from the building by relatives and a neighbor. Apart from smoke inhalation, she is ok. The room of origin and a ceiling area in the upper areas of the building in the upper flat is definitely damaged by the fire. The lower flat received mostly water damage. Most of the building received heat and smoke damage.”
Andrea Polanco
“So, apart from the senior citizen inside the house, no one else was inside at the time?”
Orin Smith
“The upper flat had two occupants. The senior citizen and her son. The son had recently left the house at the time of the fire and it appears that the fire originated in the room that he occupies.”
The tenants in the concrete lower flat of the house suffered water damage. Nicholas Moguel says he was at work at the time of the fire. While he is not happy about losing his personal belongings, he is relieved that his two young children were not at home at the time of the fire.
Nicholas Moguel, Occupant
“I mostly get water damage and so and my TV and some of my appliances and suh get wet. Suh, I nuh know.”
Andrea Polanco
“Any other family members were in the part of the house where you guys live?”
Nicholas Moguel
Nicholas Moguel
“No. No one was at home at my house. My kids neva come from school yet, so I mi glad fi that part deh and my gial friend neva deh home, suh.”
Andrea Polanco
“You look very stressed right now?”
Nicholas Moguel
“Yeah because I nuh know weh fi start do because the whole house under a mess right now. You know. It really messed up mien. Traumatizing.”
Andrea Polanco
“So, the stuff that you lost; talk to us about the things inside the house that got damaged?”
Nicholas Moguel
“Well, mussie my whole house. My sofa set; my TV. Because where the fire started is where my hall is. My TV stand, my chair, DVD, my iron, everything under water. Mostly water damage, I get.”
Andrea Polanco
“And these are things you will have to buy over now?”
Nicholas Moguel
“Yeah buy over and this wah cost wi mien and most ah the thing we can’t use over because the water dirty too. Because when it pour down, dah black dirt so you can’t wash it over fi most ah the clothes deh. I have wah whole thing ah clothes weh get wet up and I wah probably have to throw weh half ah deh. I really want get my stuff that I work really hard fah you know. Nothing nuh come easy fi we because we have to work hard fi weh we have yuh know ma’m. It is really stressing me out now mien because I deh dah work di sit down and when I get the call that my house deh on fire. The only thing I worry about dah my two babies deh because when deh call me dah the time my kids usually come from school. So, I raced home to meet deh yah but they never were here.”
Andrea Polanco
“So, you’re just glad they weren’t in the house?”
Nicholas Moguel
“In the house, yes ma’m. I glad that deh neva inna the house; that dah the only part I mi di worry about, nuh the clothes or TV or nothing. I mi di worry about my baby deh.”
Reporting for News Five, I am Andrea Polanco.
Moguel says if you would like to assist his family, you can call 622-9918.
