Terry Moore was in such a deep sleep that his neighbours believed he was not in when fire broke out at his My Lord’s Hill, St Michael house in the wee hours of yesterday morning.
But soon after, he burst from the house stark naked.
Friends and neighbours had earlier banged on his house when the fire alarm was raised and, hearing no response, presumed he was out, until a neighbour heard his cries for help from within the raging fire.
Neighbour Landa Alleyne recalled hearing the shouts of “help, help” amid the intense heat that eventually consumed the entire wooden one-bedroom structure.
Alleyne recounted how she was walking with two male friends, after leaving a karaoke session, and spotted the smoke.
“While we were coming back I just saw the smoke and a mind told me to go cross there. When we got there something was burning in his yard so we shouted “Basila, Basila, but we didn’t hear him so we say he couldn’t be home,” Alleyne recounted.
“So we went and wake up the neighbours and within 30 minutes things got out of hand. I heard him in there groaning and hollering trying to get out and water start to come from my eyes, I was so frighten.
“But somehow he managed to get out and he came out running naked as he born.”
Moore suffered burns to the head, left arm and left leg.
Still shaken up by what occurred the relieved fire victim said: “I am very thankful to my neighbours who tried to help me.
The remains of Terry Moore’s house after fire engulfed it yesterday morning. (Picture by Reco Moore.)
“I am grateful to be alive today. Fire is not easy and how that fire hit me had me real offset cause the pain ain’t easy. I advise anybody who does leave home without checking the stove to not do so any more,” Moore advised residents after his brush with death.
Moore, a tyre salesman, who occasionally cooked outdoors, said he did not cook the night before and found it strange that something in his yard caught fire.
Two fire tenders from Bridgetown arrived on the scene at 3:45 a.m. after receiving an initial call about a grass fire around 3:36 a.m. Seven officers under the command of Station Officer Denton Foster put out the blaze. (SB)
