Children escape burning house
The stage was set for a major tragedy, but good fortune intervened. Ann-Marie Williams reports on a fire that could have produced mass fatalities.
Ann-Marie Williams, Reporting
Two houses situated on North Creek in the Port Loyola Area of the city were totally destroyed by fire last night. Assistant Fire Chief Norris Fisher says they received a call from the police around 11:00 p.m.
Norris Fisher, Assistant Fire Chief
“In the same report, the police were saying that there is a report that children are in the house. We dispatched a truck immediately, and on arrival the officer in charge on the truck radioed back and said that on turning from Central American Boulevard, he could see flames in the sky. When he arrived on scene, he saw two houses on fire. There was a large house and a smaller one. The smaller one was totally engulfed in flames, and the larger one was partially engulfed.”
The larger house was occupied by seventy-year-old Boliza Canto and Jamil Canto. The smaller house, where the fire originated was the home of her daughter, thirty-five year old Martha Canto, who was not at home at the time of the fire. Her five children, however, ages two to nine years old, were.
Eyewitness Zebedee Peterson said he was between sleep and wake when he smelled smoke.
Zebedee Peterson, Eyewitness
“When I came out and I looked good, I saw a whole burst of flame from back of the house coming from the window, so I knew there was fire. Then I came outside.
Ann-Marie Williams
“What did you see?”
Zebedee Peterson
“I saw a lot of people going to see the fire. Afterwards I saw the flames got higher. Then I heard one of the children start to cry and the big brother went for him.”
Ann-Marie Williams
“Children were inside the house?”
Zebedee Peterson
“Yes, children were inside the house.”
Ann-Marie Williams
“How many children are we talking about?”
Zebedee Peterson
“Five, five children. Their big brother came, he was at home, he doesn’t live downstairs with the mother, he lived at the next house with his grandmother.”
Ann-Marie Williams
“So the house was on fire and the children were in there?”
Zebedee Peterson
“Yes.”
Ann-Marie Williams
“You heard screams?”
Zebedee Peterson
“Yes. Their big brother took then out. I was worried about the little baby, Gaylie.”
Ann-Marie Williams
“How old is the baby?”
Zebedee Peterson
“About two years old.”
And while these children were luckier than the seven who perished in the February twentieth fire in Belama, Peterson said Martha Canto’s carelessness could have left the entire neighbourhood homeless.
Zebedee Peterson
“Yes, she usually do it. She shouldn’t do it because they are children and are mischievous, so the mother should take warning. You have to at least take the baby with you.”
Ann-Marie Williams
“What about the people who live on the edge of the creek, are you concerned for them because I see all wooden house straight down?”
Zebedee Peterson
“Yes. a lot of them would have caught fire.”
Ann-Marie Williams
“You said you saw the mother running?”
Zebedee Peterson
“She came running to the fire crying. Excited, thinking that all the children got burnt.”
Ann-Marie Williams for News 5.
Police say the entire Canto family will be picked up for questioning. However, they’re being given time to settle into their temporary residence. Neither of the houses was insured.
