A MIDDAY fire, of a yet unknown origin, yesterday left a mother and her four- year-old son homeless, with all their worldly possessions destroyed. The victims are 26-year old Malika London and Samuel Chapman, of Lot 146 Eldorado Avenue, South Ruimveldt Gardens, Georgetown.
The woman said, about 11:00 h, she left the boy at home in the yard and went to get some bush, as they are both suffering from influenza.
She recounted that, not long after, she received a cellular phone call that the house was ablaze and ran back, frantically screaming for Samuel.
She said she tried to re-enter the burning property but a neighbour had already removed the child to safety and media personality Mondale Smith rescued her.
The Senior Producer/Manager at BTV Channel Two said he was in the process of wrapping up discussions on the ‘Beenie Man and Destra I’m Ok Concert’ when he was alerted to a conflagration nearby.
He said someone shouted the alarm and, on seeing the smoke, he, immediately, alerted the Fire Chief to the location.
Smith said he ran around the block to get into reporter mode but abandoned that plan to save the frantic woman.
He was about to take photos for his facebook when he saw the woman at her gate screaming: “Oh God, my son, my son!”
“All I could do was run and grab her from the heat because she was a mother looking for her son at all cost. She was heading back into the yard…” Smith related.
He said it was no easy task but, determined to save the woman, he held the kicking, screaming woman and placed her in the back of a vehicle.
It was only then he realised she is his niece-in-law.
“She was crying and fighting to get to her son and, although a neighbour said that Samuel is with another neighbour, she wanted to see him to believe,” Smith said.
Firefighters arrived shortly after and, amidst the sound of explosions from inside the well lit house, they managed to contain the blaze to the one building but London said she lost all her belongings including documents.
She and her son lived in the property owned by her brother.