Toddler, 3, perishes in fire

According to reports, Terrence Wilson, 48, left his six step-children in the care of his 14-yearold daughter at the family’s Arima home yesterday, to go to work. At around 2 pm yesterday afternoon, neighbours reported smelling smoke and saw smoke coming from one of the windows on the second floor of the house.

The 14-year-old relative gathered the children and rushed them out of the house, however, during the melee, Tryane managed to pull free from her guardian and re-entered the house where she died.

Neighbours alerted the Arima Fire Station, however, trucks were at the scene of a nearby bush fire and were unable to respond immediately to the blaze. Newsday understands that the Tunapuna Fire Station instead, dispatched one of their vehicles to the scene which extinguished the fire almost 30 minutes later. Newsday spoke to the bereaved stepfather who said that he learnt of the fire when the owner of the property called him at work.

“I got a call from the owner, saying that the house was on fire.

I just dropped everything I was doing and rushed here as fast as I could, but by the time I got here, the fire officers had already outed the fire and removed the body.

The mother does not live with us here so I am the primary care-giver. Right now I lost my stepdaughter and we don’t have anywhere to go,” a visibly distraught Wilson said.

Police and fire officials are continuing investigations.