The Tribune

By LYNAIRE MUNNINGS

Tribune Staff Reporter

lmunnings@tribunemedia.net

A FIRE believed to have erupted from a domestic dispute destroyed a seven-unit apartment building on Infant View Road on Monday, displacing about 40 people and leaving a 39-year-old woman in police custody.

The blaze gutted the upper apartments of the two-storey stone structure and left the lower units damaged by heat and water. No injuries were reported.

Police said officers from the Fire Services Department were alerted shortly before 3pm and dispatched three fire units to the scene. Firefighters arrived to find flames consuming the multi-unit building and worked to contain and extinguish the blaze before it spread further.

Police said preliminary investigations revealed that a man and a woman believed to be in a relationship had been involved in an altercation before the fire. Witnesses reportedly saw the woman carrying a plastic bottle containing a brown liquid.

At some point during or shortly after the dispute, flames were seen coming from a south-eastern apartment occupied by the woman, police said. She was later seen fleeing west along Infant View Road.

The apartment complex contained seven units, although three were occupied by the woman’s relatives.

Among those displaced was 32-year-old Robin Pierre, a mother of three who had lived in the building for 15 years and lost nearly everything just weeks before she is due to begin work as a nurse intern at Princess Margaret Hospital.

“We lost money, and then we lost our clothing, our documents, our full essentials, our stove, fridge, our living room set, mattress, everything,” Ms Pierre told The Tribune yesterday. “We weren't able to retrieve anything.”

Ms Pierre said her family escaped unharmed, a fact she said outweighed the loss of their belongings.

“I was making sure that none of my family members was injured or harmed, and then after learning of everybody, ended up coming out, I was ecstatic, you know, like nobody was harmed, nobody was hurt,” she said.

“It was only material things that we lost, and that can be replaced. It's gonna take some time, but at the end of the day, we will end up getting things back, but more importantly, life was quite fine that, you know, everybody was quite okay."

Still, the fire struck at a pivotal moment for Ms Pierre, who recently graduated from the University of The Bahamas’ nursing programme and is scheduled to begin work as a nurse intern at PMH on July 13.

“All my scrubs, all my nursing essentials got lost in the fire, so like the time frame is so fast approaching, like I don't have anything now, so it put us back like ten steps backwards, especially me, because I am like the breadwinner in the family.

“My parents are senior citizens, they are old, and my mom has a medical issue, so you know I am the breadwinner, I provide everything, so I have to go now and figure out how we are going to get from point A to point B."

Ms Pierre said she is trying to remain steady for her family.

"I have to stay strong for everybody, because if they see the head breakdown, then it's like if the foundation breaks down, who else to hold?” she said.

Ms Pierre said her family is now sharing a one-bedroom home with relatives while awaiting assistance from the Department of Social Services. She said community members have begun donating groceries, clothing and other necessities.

She appealed for public help, saying any donation would help her family rebuild. A GoFundMe campaign established for her has a target of $5,500.

Asked about the fundraising goal, she said: "I did that because I was being realistic with myself, because I don't want to burden anybody. I just wanted some people to assist me on getting like my first and last and security deposit, and also to be able to get some home essentials, such as a bed, bedroom set, even if it is second-hand,” she said yesterday.

The owner of the building declined to comment on the fire, but said the property had been in the family’s possession since the 1980s.