By Rasbert Turner, Gleaner WriterAccording to Deputy Superintendent of the St. Catherine Fire Brigade, Maxwell Hines, investigators are still busy trying to put together the pieces, mulling over what could have ignited the blaze, which totally gutted the Foam and Accessory Factory at 29 East St., Old Harbour, and also six board houses.
The Old Harbour police, acknowledging that they, too, were equally 'mystified', said that their department's forensic personnel will be going through the rubble to try to ascertain what caused the blaze. Three-year-old Samuel Phillip Parkes was burnt to death, apparently trapped inside his dwelling.
Shannet Brookes, a resident, recalled the ordeal. "When mi come out mi have fi run back inside as the flames was big. I wake up and tek me two odda bredda dem outside," she explained, trying to hold back the tears. She lamented, however, that the three-year-old boy was not as lucky, "even as mi try fi wake him." She noted: "Mi nearly faint when mi see him body about two hours later."
Mr. Hines noted that his department did everything that was humanly possible to try to bring the fire under control. "We received the call about 11:00 p.m. and responded with two units from Spanish Town... we went into action immediately," he said.
He said firefighters encountered early problems with water but was ably assisted by units which had been brought in from May Pen, Kingston and Portmore.
The fire, he added, was brought under control by 2:00 a.m. and was completely extinguished three hours later.
Sharon Floyd, a 41-year-old mother of two, said she lost everything in the fire. "I was on mi bed when me feel di heat, me wake up suddenly and mi hear smaddy seh, 'Sharon, fire fire'!" Ms. Floyd said.
Meanwhile, 70-year-old Yrelle Planter, who was burnt severely on her hands and back, has been hospitalised.
