Family burned during Trial Farm fire

The origins of a fire at a house in Trial Farm in the Orange Walk remains under investigation. A family of three was sound asleep when the blaze erupted in the dead of the night two weeks ago; the mysterious fire spread quickly through the small house which had no electricity.  The couple suffered burns and is recovering, but their young daughter is still in the hospital. Duane Moody reports.

Duane Moody, Reporting

Twenty-five year old Douglas Leslie; his girlfriend, twenty-nine year old Karina Bartley and their three year old daughter were inside their Trial Farm home on Wednesday, April tenth, when a fire broke inside the room they were sleeping in sometime around two thirty the morning. Leslie believes that the fire was set.

Douglas Leslie

Douglas Leslie, Fire Victim

“I went to sleep and that was the last thing before the fire happened. Within that short space of time when my girlfriend woke me up, I noticed that the whole wall was on fire and the intensity. The first thing I thought was through the window so I started to break out the window. My girlfriend told me the door, but the pathway to the door was already on fire. So I broke down the door because if I took the baby with me at the time she might have get hurt more. At that point in time, the fire was spreading more on to the mattress so I grabbed the baby but she was already catching fire.  I would say it is not just a fire that happened on its own. I would say they set it on fire because the fire started from the room and from behind the mattress that was on the wall.”

While the family does not know who could have set the house on fire, Fire officials, say the cause remains undetermined.

Kenneth Mortis

Kenneth Mortis, Officer in Charge, Orange Fire Station

“The investigation has revealed minimal information. We do know that when the fire started, the entire household was asleep. The mother Miss Bartley was awoken by a bright light in one of her daughter’s room. Knowing that the house had no electricity she was concerned about where that light was coming from. It’s an unfortunate thing. I haven’t seen one like this before. The house had no electricity and try to visualize a standing mattress against a wall. It gives you a space of about six or eight inches from the foot of the mattress to the corner of the wall. That was where he said he saw the fire concentrated from. We tried to do our sample analysis but by the time we arrived at the scene for a second go around, neighbors and family already started clearing the debris, which put a hindrance in the investigation.”

And while the triois recovering from first and second degree burns to their bodies, the three year old is still hospitalized.

Douglas Leslie

“I got burnt on my hands, on my feet, my knees and abdomen, but my girlfriend got burned on her forehead, the cheek, her entire hand and her legs. The baby she is still admitted at the hospital. Doctors say that she will be out in a couple days, but she had all the way from here all the way going to the inner portion of the hand and her outside and her chest coming on to her stomach.”

The three year old girl is tonight still admitted at the Northern Regional Hospital after she was burned to the body on April tenth. While the prognosis for recovery is good, she is expected to remain hospitalized for a few more days. Duane Moody for News Five.

Anyone who can assist the family in recovering their lost can contact Leslie at 620-1866.