Petit Bourg family of 10 homeless after fire

A Petit Bourg family of ten is now homeless after a fire gutted their house on Monday morning. They are describing it as a “nightmare.”

Around 11am, Moesha Sotillo – who is almost eight months pregnant – was woken by a phone call from her sister-in-law Marian “Lana” Bradshaw-Allicock asking for help to pick up her daughter from school in St Joseph.

But when Sotillo walked out to the gallery of their Church Hill Extension home, she saw smoke and realised the house was on fire.

She ran outside and immediately messaged Bradshaw-Allicock and alerted neighbours. She was the only person at home at the time.

Fire services arrived about an hour later, but because so many cars were parked along the road leading there and the size of the truck, it could not reach the house.

And while neighbours tried to help, the community has had water problems for several weeks, so there was no water available.

Fire officers had to drive to nearby Irving Street to get access to the flat concrete house. But by the time they got there, the house had already been gutted.

Bradshaw-Allicock was on on her way home from Arima after collecting the death certificate of another family member who died recently in order to go ahead with funeral arrangements. She told Newsday this has doubled the family’s grief.

“Everything gone to the ground. We don’t even know where to start.

“It’s like a nightmare. I almost get into an accident because I was driving when I got the news. I was driving on my way back from getting the death certificate for my mom’s great-uncle…Everybody is just shocked, nobody was expecting anything like this.”

Sotillo told Newsday had it not been for her sister-in-law’s call, she and her unborn baby might not be alive.

“I already had my baby bag packed and ready, because I am due in one and a half months. All I have is the phone that was in my hand when I walked outside. The neighbour had to give me a pair of slippers to wear,” she said. Fire officials were at the scene up to 4pm, and scores of neighbours were there to support the family.

The family said councillors in the area have contacted them, and the Disaster Management Unit of the San Juan/Laventille Regional Corporation visited.

Anyone who would like to help the family can contact Bradshaw-Allicock at 385-2276.