New Year’s Day fire leaves Old Harbour family without a home

The heartbreaking New Year’s Day incident occur about nine o’clock this morning in the Sharper Lane area near the railway track.

Three adults and three children, one said to be a toddler, escaped unhurt, but the family was unable to save anything.

They had to evacuate quickly as the blaze, said to be of unknown origin at this pending investigation, ripped swiftly through the structure made of board and zinc. The intensity of the fire gave the occupiers and neighbours little chance.

A unit from the Old Harbour Fire Station got the call at 9:07 am and responded immediately, but could only perform cooling down operations when they arrived at the scene.

The fire department estimates the damage at $1.5 million.

The house was not insured.

Shirley Reid is the home owner. She said she had just left home and was at a shop nearby when someone alerted her about the fire. 

“Mi get up and boil some porridge fi mi three grandchildren and then mi leave go buy shampoo to wash the two bigger ones hair. The baby who is five months old wasn’t there because her father go weh wid har,” Reid recalled. “When me reach roun mi couldn’t si nothing, a pure fire. The only thing mi could a se is ‘lawd Jesus, a weh di pikni dem de?’ and dem se dem no in a di house.”

Reid dismissed rumours swirling in the aftermath that the fire was caused by one of the children or negligence, though firefighters are yet to determine the cause.

“Honestly I couldn’t tell you what cause it because mi no leave no fire there,” she said.

Reid, who is employed as a sweeper with the National Solid Waste Management Authority (NSWMA), said the situation has left her heartbroken.

Lamenting her predicament she added: “Bwoy honestly, mi a se ‘God a weh mi do? Why this affi happen?’ you understand! Because mi just start get fi sort out back mi self because the six and the four years old dem madda no de beside them, a me have them and a grow them. So a me everything leave pon fi deal with dem: like back-to-school [but] nothing is here anymore.”