RAD­HI­CA DE SIL­VA

rad­hi­ca.sookraj@guardian.co.tt

Three mem­bers of a La Ro­maine fam­i­ly are hos­pi­tal­ized af­ter em­bers from a bush fire ig­nit­ed a tree and spread to their home, burn­ing it to the ground ear­ly yes­ter­day.

Christo­pher Bran­ka, 60, suf­fered se­ri­ous burns to his head, back and hands while Bri­an Bran­ka, 61, and Yas­mine Mo­hammed, 50, suf­fered mi­nor burns to their hands and shoul­ders as they stum­bled out of the burn­ing house with the help of neigh­bours.

The fam­i­ly had been asleep at their home on South­ern Main Road, La Ro­maine, when they were awak­ened by the smell of smoke around 2.45 am.

Neigh­bour Suzette Jan­galee said Bri­an was the first to wake up as he slept in the up­stairs bed­room. She said he left his room and came down­stairs to see a fire burn­ing bright­ly in the back­yard.

“All the trees were light­ing up and he told me the fire start­ed to fall on him be­cause the trees are as high as the house,” she re­called.

She said Bri­an wasn’t sure what was go­ing on and who lit the fire.

“He tried to con­nect the wa­ter hose to out the fire but with­in a few min­utes the whole house was ablaze,” she added.

Mo­hammed was trapped in her room and could not get out as the gate was jammed, Jan­galee said.

“She was scream­ing for help. Some guys from down the road came and they cut the gate and took her out. She woke me up with her screams. When I came out, the po­lice put her in the jeep and took her to the hos­pi­tal,” she said.

Jan­galee said she re­al­ized the fire would spread to her house so she im­me­di­ate­ly start­ed wet­ting her walls and floors.

Fire­fight­ers led by FS­SO Jack­son ar­rived with­in 20 min­utes and man­aged to stop the fire from spread­ing to Pamela Teelucks­ingh’s house.

Jan­galee said she was thank­ful no­body died in the fire.

“It was shock­ing and hurt­ful to see what hap­pened be­cause this is a good fam­i­ly. Every­one knows them. They did not light any fire in their back­yard so we do not know how this fire start­ed,” Jan­galee said.

She said Christo­pher got se­vere burns on his hand, head and back. Bri­an got burnt on his hands and head and Mo­hammed got burnt on the back. “Christo­pher got burnt the most,” she added.

All three are in sta­ble con­di­tion at the San Fer­nan­do Gen­er­al Hos­pi­tal.

Of­fi­cers from the San Fer­nan­do CID, in­clud­ing PCs Ja­groop, Fi­ga­roo and Cabera, vis­it­ed the scene.

A se­nior fire of­fi­cer re­peat­ed a warn­ing to the pub­lic that it is il­le­gal to light out­door fires with­out a per­mit. Of­fend­ers face a pos­si­ble $20,000 fine and six months in jail.