Penal family loses home in fire

A FAMILY of four, including a three-year-old was on Saturday night left homeless after a fire destroyed their $250,000 Penal home. According to a police report, at 9 pm Kelvin Jhilmit, 58, of 1053 Penal Rock Road, left home with his wife, Rena, 35, and his three-year-old son, Rivaldo. Jhilmit’s other son, Renaldo, 8, a student of the Penal Rock Road Presbyterian School was not at home at the time of the blaze. The report stated that Jhilmit’s brother, Anil, 29, went to the home of Jhilmit to retrieve his green Civic motorcar, which was parked in the yard, only to discover that the porch area of the flat concrete structure was filled with smoke.  Further checks revealed that the house was on fire.

Anil then attempted, with the help of other relatives, to remove household items, clothes, the children’s school uniform and books from the burning house. This proved futile as the entire two-bedroom house was already completely engulfed in flames. Fire appliances from the Siparia Fire Station res-ponded shortly on the scene but were unable to salvage anything.  A preliminary investigation fire report yesterday revealed that the blaze may have been caused by an electrical fault. Anil said that his brother, Jhilmit, was completely distraught over the destruction to his home. PC Teeluck of the Barrackpore Police Station is heading investigations.