Pet pompek dies in house fire

But in her attempt to free the dog that she loved for five years, Katrina found the heat too intense and her hands began to burn.

The little girl said she had no choice but to let go of the chain and and ran away from the fire. She had the traumatising experience of having to listen to the agonising cries of her pet as it burned to death in the fire.

With tears welling in her eyes, little Katrina said, “I was sad to have to leave him (the dog), but I got burn and had to leave him.”

The injury to Katrina’s hands was minor and did not require any major medical attention.

Apart from Katrina, Sparkle was also loved by Katrina’s parents and siblings and treated as part of the family. The incident occurred on Tuesday evening when Katrina and her family of six were left homeless after fire razed throught their Gasparillo home.

Katrina’s mother, Janet Adams, 50, who is the owner of the house, was in tears as she recounted how the fire destroyed all her possessions and her house at Bonne Aventure Road, Mayo.

Adams’ sister and next door neighbour, Karen Cuffy, said residents in the district experienced electrical surges in their homes that day when TTEC workers were seen conducting work on overhead lines.

Adams said she was not previously warned about TTEC doing work in the district. “I usually turn off my main switch when TTEC announce they are doing work in the area but that did not happen,” she said.

When the fire broke out at about 1.30 pm, Adams and Harper were at work and their children who are on school vacation were at Cuffy’s house.

Cuffy told Newsday that a workman at her house saw smoke and upon investigating saw fire coming from a bedroom in Adams’ house. The house’s electricity metre was located in this room Adams said. Cuffy, her workmen and surrounding neighbours formed a bucket brigade to save the two bedroom board hour. However, within less than an house, Cuffy said, the house burnt to the ground. “We couldn’t out the fire,” Cuffy told Newsday. “It was happening really fast because we couldn’t even move anything out.” Even their pompek dog which was tied in the gallery of the house could not be rescued.

Cuffy said that when the fire tender from the Mon Repos Fire Station arrived some 45 minutes after they were alerted, the blaze had already overtaken and completely destroyed the house and the possessions inside.

Adams, who works in Gasparillo as a domestic worker, arrived at the scene to find the house that she had lived in all her life gone up in flames.