Cedros fire leaves 5 homeless

SEETA PERSAD

A CEDROS family of five was left homeless after fire gutted their three-bedroom house in St Marie Village yesterday at 4.10 pm.

Johnny Lalloo said last evening he does not know where he and his wife Natasha Paul and their three children Jessica, 15; Narin, ten, and Natalia, five, were going to spend the night.

He said they were not at home when the first started. Lalloo said that shortly after 4 pm, his father-in-law Frank Ragbir saw the house on fire and called the Point Fortin Fire Station. Fire tenders arrived at 5.30 pm, but by then it was too late to save the property. Councillor for Cedros Shankar Teelucksingh said it is unfortunate that Cedros does not have a fire station and the people have to depend on the service from far off Point Fortin.

“I am calling on the MP for Cedros Edmund Dillion to look into the matter of getting this service to Cedros. Fortunately, the family members were not home at the time of the fire,” Shankar said, adding that the fire service took so long to get to the scene that lives could have been lost. He said fire and ambulance services are needed in Cedros.

Lalloo a construction worker, was close to tears yesterday saying he lost everything that he worked so hard to get. “All we have is the clothes on our backs,” he said. Lalloo still was thankful no one was hurt. Investigations are ongoing.