Trigger Ridge woman loses house in fire

Vacita Samuel is still at a loss for words, following a fire which completely destroyed her home – a fire, she believes was deliberately set.{{more}}

When Samuel, a mother of two, of Trigger Ridge, Redemption Sharpes, visited SEARCHLIGHT on Friday, October 8, with her boyfriend Maxian Lee, she was still in a state of shock from the incident which had taken place the day before.

“I couldn’t sleep last night. I cried yesterday because it’s hard to start over…. I lost every single thing,” the woman lamented.

Samuel related that clothing, tools, furniture and furnishings were completely destroyed in the mid-morning fire. The fire also left her cousin, Marlon Primus, homeless, after his home was gutted by the flames.

The mother of two, claimed that she had left home before 8 a.m. to take her five year old daughter, Antonique, to school. Her one year old daughter, Madison, was left at her grandmother’s house.

“It was on my way back up in the van I saw the fire and I said Father Jesus, don’t let that be me,” Samuel recounted.

She added: “But at the same time I got a phone call stating that my house [was] on fire. By the time I reach up, my house was almost finished burning and then it caught my cousin own.”

Samuel claimed that it’s painful because she has lived in the area for all of her life.

The unemployed woman said that she suspects that someone is behind the burning of the houses, since attempts have been made on two previous occasions to set her house on fire.

According to Samuel, the first occasion was in March this year, when someone lit garbage under her one bedroom structure.

Lucky for her on that occasion, her cousin’s girlfriend spotted the fire and was able to put it out.

“The second was some time before carnival. I left and went over to my neighbour’s house… My cousin girlfriend brother was passing and say ‘look fire in by you.’”

“Ah rush come over and they had just pulled out the basket of laundry and out it,” said Samuel.

Samuel recalled that the day before the latest incident, she had seen a suspicious looking individual behind her house. She is of the view that the person is an alleged troublemaker from the area, whom Samuel and neighbours have had issues with before.

“Most of the people who came to the scene say the fire didn’t start inside the house, it started outside the house,” she said.

“Somebody say they saw little smoke at the side of the house or underneath the house, by the time they get there it was a blazing fire,” she told SEARCHLIGHT.

A depressed Samuel said that she and her children, as well as her cousin, his girlfriend and their two children are all being accommodated at her grand father’s home in the village.

While this may not be the best living situation, Samuel is grateful

for the help being rendered.

She and Lee also expressed gratitude to persons who have offered sympathies, words of encouragement or tried to put out the fire. They are also expressing thanks to individuals who have made commitments to assist the family.

Samuel said that she is considering whether to rebuild or relocate to another which has been under her control since her father died about four years ago. (JJ)