sascha.wilson@guardian.co.tt
A Debe family suspects that supernatural forces could be behind a string of unexplainable fires that have resulted in their home being destroyed.
Owned by Mohan, 72 and Karen Ramnath, 58, a clothes vendor, the three-bedroom house at Ragoo Village was hit by fire three times in the past few days but yesterday, they could not save it.
Fortunately, no one was injured in the blaze.
When the strange fires started, the Ramnaths’ daughter, her husband and two children, ages ten and four, began staying with them. Their son-in-law Rishi Rampersad said no one could figure out what was causing the fires and they were concerned about the couple’s safety.
Recalling that the first fire was on Monday, Rampersad said, “The fire lit under the couch. There was no source of the fire. We extinguished it. Then on Tuesday, the downstairs caught afire. My son ran out and called the neighbours and the neighbours came with the fire extinguisher and managed to contain it.”
There was an inspection by a T&TEC crew and firefighters, but they could give the family no indication about what caused the fire.
“We cleared out the downstairs, so there was nothing there,” said Rampersad.
Baffled over what was causing the blaze, he said, “There were no plugs or no wires near a curtain by the window and the curtain caught afire.”
Rampersad said he stayed awake all night in the event of another fire.
An unidentified woman weeps at the scene of the house fire in Ragoo Village in Debe, yesterday.
RISHI RAGOONATH
“Whole night I stayed awake just in case something happened, because these are old people. And my kids were upstairs asleep. I stayed in the living room and watched TV until the morning and when they get up I go home to sleep,” he said.
About 20 minutes after he left, however, he got word around 6.15 am that the house was on fire. Rampersad was told the fire started in a back bedroom.
“From what my son said, he called out ‘mama, look smoke’. They grabbed two fire extinguishers and tried to out it but nothing was working, because it had already reached up to the roof. My son grabbed his little sister and they ran out onto the road. Everyone else came out. There was nothing else to do.”
Rampersad doesn’t believe that the fires occurred under normal circumstances.
“After this, I could say I believe in evil. That fire on that second day, there was no ordinary way that fire would have started. No electrical, wires or nothing. This is not normal.”
Rampersad, however, had no clue as to why someone would want to hurt his family.
“We do not have any enemies, no grudge against anyone,” he added.
Rampersad said his son’s books and laptop were destroyed in the blaze.
“He asked me, ‘daddy see if the laptop working’. I told him we will get one back. We living, we healthy, we strong, God is good,” he said.
Karen, a mother of two and grandmother of five, said they were living there for 35 years.
She sells clothes in the market and had about $20,000 worth of goods in the house.
“My husband built this house little by little, borrowing $5,000 at a time. We worked very hard to put up every board and brick,” she added.
In 15 minutes, Karen lamented, they lost everything.
“I am a Christian and I say a lot of prayers. I do not want to think that someone wants to do us harm,” she said.
While it is “possibly something supernatural,” she said they are awaiting a report from the Fire Service.
Anyone willing to help the family can contact 491 4840 or 349 9973.