A South Oropouche family could do nothing but look on helplessly as fire ravaged their home in the wee hours of Sunday morning.
In the hour-long fire that changed their lives, Shermiza Ravello and her family went from living comfortably to begging a lodging at relatives’ homes, Ravello said.
All they were left with was each other and the clothes on their back.
According to Ravello, 28, she was asleep around 2 am when she was awakened by her mother, Zenobia, 42, screaming that their home on Duke Street was on fire. She said as she opened her eyes, all she saw was flames on her ceiling.
“I was asleep when I heard my mom calling my name. I jumped out of my sleep and I heard her saying ‘fire,’ ‘fire.’ When I looked up I saw my ceiling was on fire and I panicked. On my way out, I saw it had already spread to my brother and uncle’s room in back. It spread really fast, like in five minutes,” Ravello said.
By the time fire tenders arrived, she said, it was too late. Although they could not determine how the fire began, she said it started in her cousin Akiel’s room while he was asleep. She said he was awakened by the flames on his mattress, and in an attempt to throw it out the window it ignited the curtains.
With Akiel’s room being a wooden attachment to the concrete structure, it burned quickly and allowed the flames to spread to the ceiling.
At the same time, her uncle Floyd Ravello, 48, was returning from singing parang with Los Dinamicos, saw the fire and alerted her mother.
“All we could have done was run out house. We were not able to save anything other than the clothes we were wearing. My cousins and neighbours came across and tried to throw water on the fire but that did not work,” Ravello said.