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96-year-old 'woken by crackling and smoke'

Wayne Smith, son of Doris Smith, shows how a fire ripped through his elderly mother’s bedroom. Photo: Denise Maycock

Wayne Smith, son of Doris Smith, shows how a fire ripped through his elderly mother’s bedroom. Photo: Denise Maycock

As of Friday, July 20, 2018

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Doris Smith, 96, in her living room earlier this week prior to the fire that damaged her home. She is pictured with her son, Wayne Smith.

By DENISE MAYCOCK

Tribune Freeport Reporter

dmaycock@tribunemedia.net

DORIS Smith, 96, was awakened by the sounds of "crackling and smoke" and her quick action helped to save not only herself but her caretaker from a fire at her residence in Pinedale, Eight Mile Rock.

The cause of the fire is unknown and fire officials are still investigating. According to Ms Smith's caretaker, workers had been by the house on Tuesday "fiddling" with the electrical wiring.

The fire started in Ms Smith's bedroom during the early hours of Wednesday morning.

"I heard crackling and smelled smoke," recalled Ms Smith. "I looked in the kitchen, but there was no light on in there."

Ms Smith thought it might have been the fan, then she looked at the television.

"I picked up the remote and try to cut off the television, but the remote was not working," she said.

That's when Ms Smith called out to the caretaker and alerted her to a fire in her bedroom.

"I said… 'Get up, the house on fire,'" she said.

Ms Smith was assisted out of the house by her caretaker and is now staying with her grandniece in Eight Mile Rock.

"The bedroom is completely destroyed; everything is burned," Ms Smith said. "I had a brand-new bedroom set; the mattress, rug, and all my clothes - everything is gone."

Shuffel Hepburn, a close relative of Ms Smith, said the family wants answers.

"The Fire Department said the fire started in her bedroom, and the Haitian lady who is taking care of her said they (some workers) came over there on Tuesday and did something with the wire.

"The caretaker said she told them they couldn't leave the wire like that because it could cause a fire and they told her they would come back to fix. We don't know if they ever came back to fix it," Mr Hepburn said.

"Right now, the house is in bad shape, and so an assessment would have to be done, and the question is who is going to pay to repair the damage?" he asked.

Ms Smith is one of the oldest residents in Eight Mile Rock and has lived at her house in Pinedale for the past eight decades.

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