A Couva family yesterday blamed tardy firefighters for the complete destruction of their $2 million home at Lisas Gardens yesterday.
The fire left Cynthia Moore, 75; her husband Leroy, 75, who is blind; her sons, Brian, 53; Steve, 58; Peter, 49; and grandsons Darren Squires and Devon Moore, both 28, homeless.
The family lived in the eight-bedroom house in Lisas Gardens, Point Lisas.
Smoke was seen coming from the ruins during a visit yesterday.
Squires said he was alerted by a neighbour, Joanne Pierre, to smoke emanating from a back bedroom of the house around 6.40 am.
“I was inside when I heard Joanne call out to us that the house was on fire,” he said.
“When we came outside, we saw thick smoke coming from the back of the house. When we went back inside, we saw smoke coming from Uncle Brian’s room.”
“Devon kicked in the door because we thought it could be put out, but as soon as the door fell, the fire rushed out and started to burn the rest of the house.”
Squires said the family made it out of the house safely, but none of their belongings could be saved.
“We lost everything; the only thing we have are the clothes we are wearing.”
But, Squires said, if Couva Fire Station officers had responded, more than half of the house could have been saved.
“Savonetta took 15 minutes to get here. Couva would have taken five minutes but apparently they have no fire truck at the station. That would have made a lot of difference; half of our house could have been saved in that time.
“I would like them to get their act together. It is ridiculous that we had to call Savonetta to get a truck to respond.”
He also wants an investigation into why Couva does not have a fire truck.
“A thorough investigation should be done into why there is no fire truck at Couva and what they are doing at the station if they don’t have any trucks to respond to emergencies.”
No fire truck for six weeks
One officer at Couva Fire Station, speaking on the condition of anonymity, confirmed that the station could not respond to the fire in Lisas Gardens, located nearby, because there was no fire truck at the station.
“We don’t have an appliance at the station, we have not had one for the past six weeks,” the officer said. “We used to have one, but there were several mechanical issues with it and it cannot be driven.”
Public relations officer at the Fire Services Headquarters in Port-of-Spain, Divisional Fire Officer Ramdeo Boodoo, said while he was not aware of the Couva case specifically, the service did have coverage plans in place when situations such as these arise.
“We have the Savonetta Fire Station, which is in very close proximity to the Couva station and they usually complement each other in their service,” Boodoo said.
Boodoo said the process to secure parts for an appliance was lengthy, hence the absence of a truck at the Couva station.
“We have a lot of constraints, the parts may have to be brought in from abroad and the way the procurement system is now, we cannot stock parts, so the import would take some time.”