Man burnt as fire destroys home

An elderly man sustained minor burns when he attempted to put out a fire at his home yesterday, which was started by Marcus his four-year-old grandson, police said. Marcus St Clair was playing with a cigarette lighter at his grandfather’s Julien Street Extension, California home when a mattress on the northern side of the house caught fire, around 12.15 pm.

His grandfather, Ivan Francis, 60, grabbed him and made sure he was safely out of the house, before he (Francis) ran back into the house and tried to put out the fire with buckets of water. However the flames, which rapidly spread throughout the two bedroom wooden house, proved too much for him to handle.

As he retreated from the burning building, he sustained superficial burns to his shoulders and hands. He was taken to the Couva Hospital where he was treated and kept for observation. By the time the Couva Fire Brigade responded, the house, valued $16,000, was completely  gutted. Couva Police are continuing investigations.