3 DIE IN FIRE Mom, two children trapped in burning home

Carolyn Kissoon South Bureau

mother: Fazeeda Ali-Gabriel, son: Aaron Kyle, daughter: Leandra Gabriel

Trapped in their burning home, a woman and her two young children perished in a fire early yesterday morning. They were unable to get past the burglar-proofed windows.

Fazeeda Ali-Gabriel, 34, was found lying in a corridor. Her children, Leandra, 14, and ten-year-old Aaron Kyle, were huddled in a bedroom, investigators said.

Her husband, Daniel Persad, 36, and 12-year-old daughter, Deandra Crystal, squeezed through a window and escaped.

Persad was listed in serious condition at the San Fernando General Hospital last evening. He suffered burns to the chest, back, arms and face. Deandra was being treated for minor burns at the same health facility.

The fire broke out around 3 a.m. while the family slept at their Battoo Avenue, Marabella, home.

Neighbours tried to rescue the family.

’I heard someone call out my name and when I looked next door, I saw smoke… climbed to the window and used my hose to out the blaze, but it was too intense,’ Azard Mohammed said.

Ali-Gabriel, a cashier at Fen Mohammed’s Store in Marabella, walked away from a troubled marriage a year ago said her father, councillor Naizool Ali.

’About five months ago, she met this man (Daniel) and they were happy together. And the children loved him more than their own father because he treated them well,’ Ali said.

The family moved into the house at Battoo Avenue, Marabella, three months ago.

’They brought so much life to the community. The children were so pleasant. Up to last night, I fixed the boy’s bicycle. We were going to have a good Christmas with them. Now the spirit is all gone,’ Ali said.

The family had decorated the house with Christmas lights, Santa Claus and a snowman. A torched wreath remained on the front door after the fire.

Fire officers believe an overloaded circuit caused the fatal blaze.

Ali said his daughter called him the day before she died.

’She was my best daughter. She called every day to ensure that her mother and I are well. I could not believe it when I heard what had happened. She was a gem. She had gone through so much in her first marriage and was looking forward to spending a good Christmas this year,’ he said.

Leandra Gabriel was a pupil of the Tabaquite Composite School and her brother attended Guaracara Hindu School. The bodies were not severely burnt, investigators said.

San Fernando Mayor Kenneth Ferguson, who visited the scene, said: ’This is such a tragedy, an entire family destroyed. It is sad that something like this has happened during the Christmas season. I always urge people to be very careful when they are building burglar-proofing in their homes.’

A family who lived three houses away also lost their home in a fire four months ago. Truck driver Kaleel McFarlane, his wife, Patricia, and their daughter, Charlene, were asleep when the fire broke out. The family has since relocated opposite Ali-Gabriel’s home.(Trinidad Express)