Senior Reporter
sascha.wilson@guardian.co.tt
A grandfather is appealing to parents and guardians to pay close attention to children, after his nine-year-old grandson accidentally set fire to his home in Vistabella on Saturday.
Thanking God that no one was injured, Kent Pascall, 54, said the fire started when his grandson tried to burn a cockroach with a lighter in the upstairs floor of his house at Fabien Street.
The child’s mother is Pascall’s daughter. She was at work at the time of the incident.
Pascall said his grandson was upstairs watching television and he was also watching television, but downstairs. He recalled that around 2.30 pm to 3 pm, he saw black smoke coming from the inner staircase leading to the upstairs of the house. Pascall, who walks with a cane, said he started to make his way out the house, but when his grandson didn’t answer his calls, he went back in to get him.
“I hear voom voom and real black smoke and thing start to blow. He was by the step, you know like traumatised, you can’t move. I hold him and bring him out,” he said. Pascall believes his grandson may have tried to put out the fire.
“He see a cockroach and like he wanted to light the cockroach afire so I think it was with a lighter. But upstairs the bed, it have a set of bag and like the cockroach run below.”
The grandfather believes his grandson may have accidentally lit the bags or the rug.
“Like that ketch ablaze, and that is how it start. I feel he was trying to out it to and like it get out of control.”
He thanked his neighbours for their assistance in trying to put out the blaze. He was also grateful that the fire service arrived quickly and extinguished the fire before it could spread to the entire house.
Unfortunately, the upstairs floor, where his daughter (the child’s mother) lived, was destroyed while the downstairs of his home was water damaged.
The grandfather said, “Nobody was hurt, thank God for that. My grandson, he okay, which is more important, so I have a lot to thank the Lord for and to the people out there, allyuh please, no matter what, always be attentive to allyuh children, which is most important.”
He said his daughter lost all her belongings. He said the councillor and a team from the Disaster Management Unit visited them. The child’s mother, a 30-year-old chef, was at home but declined to be interviewed.
Gasparillo police are investigating.
