A fire on Tuesday night at Corinth Hills on the outskirts of San Fernando has left a family of eight homeless. It also claimed the life of a pet parrot named Cookie.
No one was at home when the fire broke out at the three-bedroom house at Ethon Lane, a Housing Development Corporation (HDC) settlement.
[caption id="attachment_896706" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Darren and Grace Arjoon search through the rubble at their Ethon Lane, Corinth, San Fernando home after a fire on Tuesday night. Photo by Angelo Marcelle[/caption]
Grace Rajoon, 46, recalled that around 7 pm on Tuesday, the family left to buy some produce at Debe junction. Rajoon and her husband Darren, 53, run a market stall at the roadside nearby.
At 8.45 pm the family returned, she said. The house was engulfed in flames, and police and fire officers were there.
Also homeless are their children, 21, 19, 18, 14, 11 and eight.
"The children went to Debe with us. I paid for the goods thinking I was going to sell them today (Wednesday) to make a dollar – and look what happened," Rajoon said as she looked at the ruins of the house. "We lost everything.
"We cannot say how it started. We spent the night with neighbours. Cookie (parrot) died and Rico (another parrot) got slight burns but survived."
[caption id="attachment_896703" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Grace Arjoon inside her burnt home in Corinth, San Fernando home on Wednesday. Photo by Angelo Marcelle[/caption]
The Rajoons were flood victims who previously lived in Penal. With the help of the HDC, the family moved into the Corinth Hills house about nine years ago.
Rajoon said after the first year, the electricity was disconnected as the family was in arrears. Since then, the house had been without electricity.
On Tuesday, when the family left for Debe, she said there were no lamps lit.
Rajoon said the family intends to seek help for housing from the HDC again.
Councillor for Corinth/Cedar Hill, Princes Town, Shawn Premchand, and other Princes Town Regional Corporation officials visited the family.
Premchand told Newsday on Wednesday, "I have been liaising with the office of the MP for San Fernando East, and we are trying to assist the family. The family is in critical need of clothes, food, and a place to stay at this time.
"Through the corporation, we can help with the hampers. Through my organisation, the Corinth/Cedar Hill Co-ordinating Committee, we are doing lunches for the family."
[caption id="attachment_896705" align="alignnone" width="1024"] The Ethon Lane, Corinth, San Fernando home of Darren and Grace Arjoon. Photo by Angelo Marcelle[/c
