Campden Park man loses home to fire

Sinel Williams sat on two wooden pallets at the side of the road smoking a cigarette in Campden Park around 7:30 a.m. yesterday.{{more}}

He wore a white and grey T-shirt, white slippers, and dark shorts.

His eyes were red. They looked as if he had been crying.

After an exchange of pleasantries and apologies that the conversation had to take place in those circumstances, he said “We can go over there.”

Along the way, he picked up a bottle of coca-cola from on top the retaining wall of a fenced house nearby.

“Somebody gi’ me this last night,” he said, referring to the soda.

As he arrived, he looked around at the destruction, sighed heavily and sat down.

The daytime brought to light what the night had hidden. Among the smoking embers were two burnt-out cooking gas cylinders, the remains of a refrigerator, and a chair.

The concrete section of the structure was still standing. From the few sticks of charred wood, one could see that a wooden structure once adjoined the concrete section. The roof was also gone.

A fire, about 12 hours earlier, had left Williams, a mason, shirtless — literally.

He did not make an attempt at being stoic as firefighters battled the blaze Sunday night.

“Everything bun up,” the 46 year-old Campden Park man cried.

“The last thing me tek (hire purchased) from Singer is a stove. Ah $95 me have left for Singer. Everything bun up,” Williams further cried as some on lookers tried to console him, even as others offered their theories about what had started the blaze.

Villagers spoke of seeing smoke long before firefighters were summoned. But they also said they thought the smoke was from burning brush or garbage.

WILLIAMS told Searchlight yesterday that he was returning home when he realised the two-bedroom house, which was 30 feet long by 18 feet wide, was on fire.

The flames were already too strong for Williams, who was bare-chested at the time, to save anything.

The father of two grown children said he has no idea how the fire started.

The house has an electricity connection and the stove was not lit at the time of the fire, Williams said.

And one week before Christmas, Williams is facing the stark reality that he has “to start from scratch”.

He, however, told SEARCHLIGHT, he has no idea how he will rebuild. (kentonchance@searchlight.vc)