Belmont fire leaves 8 homeless

Tracey Charles-John fought hard to hold back the tears as she watched the last of her possessions go up in flames. Charles-John’s family home, located at Belgrave Road, Belmont, was completely gutted by fired yesterday, leaving her three children, her husband, 74-year-old grandmother, uncle and a family friend without a place to call home.

Charles-John’s husband Dexter John looked on at the last of the flames, seemingly in a state of shock. He said he had returned to his home at about 9.45 am, only to see his entire home on fire. John said although he saw his neighbours forming bucket brigades, he was so shocked at the situation that he just started running. John’s sprint took him to the Port-of-Spain General Hospital, where he met his wife and gave her the news. They both raced back home, only to find that all their belongings were lost in the fire.

While speaking to Newsday, Charles John broke down: “This is a family home. Although there are three apartments, everybody lives here as one. My grandmother, Lucille Lewis grow up here from since a child. I don’t know how she handling this.” John kept an eye on her youngest child, a four-year-old boy, making sure he did not get too close to the burning house. Also keeping watch were fire officers who had come from both Wrightson Road and Belmont. Charles-John said, “I don’t know how I am going to tell my two other children they have nowhere to sleep tonight.” She said her two other children, ages 6 and 7, were not aware of all that had taken place, as they were at school. “Christmas was so nice. Everything was just nice. The children were happy, and they had a good time. Now, everything gone,” she said. “You only see these things on television, and you think this could never happen to you. I don’t know how I going to deal with this. Everything I own just gone.”

While Charles-John spoke to Newsday, her grandmother sat in a neighbour’s gallery, holding and rubbing her head, as if trying to come to terms with losing the only place she had ever called home. Charles-John, who works at the Port-of-Spain General Hospital as a patient care assistant, said financially she doesn’t have anywhere to turn now that she and her family have lost everything. “My six-month contract will be up in May, and my husband, who is a labourer, is not working right now. This is just so frustrating, when you trying to make ends meet, and then something like this come and happen,” she cried. Neighbours have  agreed to help John and her family. “It’s the least we can do. We up here in Belgrave Road live like family, so we will do whatever we can to assist them to get back on their feet,” a neighbour said. Fire officers who visited the scene could not say what caused the blaze. All officers on duty could say is that they will visit the scene again to try to determine the cause of the fire.