Deadly blaze - Family of five perish in fire

Tyrone Reid, Senior Staff Reporter

Shell-shocked residents are still trying to come to grips with how a family of five perished in a blaze off Whitehall Avenue in St Andrew in the wee hours of Saturday morning.

After the smoke had cleared, the residents were still puzzled as to how none of the family members, especially the mother who was described as a light sleeper, heard their warning shouts of fire before the house was consumed and all its occupants burnt to death.

Police from the St Andrew North division identified the dead as Carol Spencer, 39; her boyfriend, 32-year-old Garfield Brown, and their sons Kemar Brown, 18, Ian Palmer, 14, and 18-month-old Michael Brown. One of Spencer's sons - Mickel Walker - escaped the blaze that took his family. Residents said the 20-year-old left moments before the fire started for a party.

David Daley, a firefighter attached to the Half-Way Tree Fire Station, said the given address of the home was 10 Whitehall Avenue (even though it is located off Whitehall Avenue). Daley said the call for help was received by the York Park station in Kingston, but it was relayed to his station about a minute later at 2:42 a.m.

The police and members of the national fire service, who were combing through the remnants of the home when our news team arrived, are yet to determine the cause of the fire. "Investigations are pending," was all the policeman offered in response to questions as to what caused the blaze.

The deadly blaze left its mark on the family home. The boards and sheets of zinc that made up the roof were black. When our news team entered what was left of the family home late yesterday morning, the smell of smoke was overpowering.

The heat too was still palpable inside the burnt-out dwelling that claimed the five hours before.

Spencer's diary with a national identification card and other papers survived the hellish inferno. Spencer would have turned 40 in three days. Other important documents, such as birth certificates, were not destroyed. The papers were discovered by residents who were rummaging through the charred ruins.

RESIDENTS GROAN

After the police and fire personnel left the scene, several residents descended on the home to catch a glimpse of the destruction that the blaze left in its wake. Initially, not many words were spoken. All that could be heard were moans and groans as the residents tried to come to grips with what remained.

Julie Ferrigon, a neighbour of the family that perished, said she got up about 2:20 a.m. yesterday and went to the bathroom. She heard the dogs barking incessantly and wondered if something was wrong. That's when she noticed that the back of Spencer's home was burning. Ferrigon, her brother and his wife went to the front of the house and started to call out for Spencer. They got no answer.

 "Carol, Carol, your house is on fire," she recalled shouting. They even turned on a hose and tried to battle the blaze while calling for Spencer and her family. Still, they got no answer.

"This is Carol's room," said Ferrigon, as she pointed to the burnt-out shell of a building. "We knocked the windows and called 'Carol, Carol' and she wouldn't wake. We are wondering why because she doesn't sleep dead," the dazed neighbour added.

There were claims that the house was fire-bombed. But the residents said they did not hear any explosions. Words escaped Carol's sister, Suzette Spencer, as she grappled with a tragedy that shattered her Saturday morning. "Not good," she said when asked how she was holding up. "Me and her grow together. One mother, one father, so is just the two of us," said the younger Spencer. She described her sister as a loner and could not say if anyone would want to hurt her.

Panchieto Spencer, Carol's father, put on his strong face as he looked at the scene where his daughter and three grandchildren died. Carol was his first child.

"Me strong me bredda. Me weep still, but me strong," said the elder Spencer.

In the meantime, Inspector Anthony Brown, attached to the St Andrew North police division, said all the family members except the eldest son were found in one room.

The father died clutching His 18-month-old son. The 18-year-old's body was found in the bathroom of the four-bedroom house with the pipe running.

While nothing to suggest foul play has been found so far, Brown too believed the circumstances were "sort of strange and unusual".

tyrone.reid@gleanerjm.com