A devastating fast-moving blaze has left a family of six displaced and with no personal possessions after destroying their two-storey residence in La Romaine, Trinidad and Tobago, this Sunday, prompting a public call for urgent assistance to help the group rebuild their lives. The inferno quickly tore through the mixed wood-and-concrete home located on Lucky Street Extension, overwhelming desperate, immediate efforts by nearby neighbors to contain the fire and save the property before emergency crews arrived.
The home housed two family groups across its floors: Aaliyah Small, 25, shared the ground floor with her mother Alisha Mohammed, while Mohammed’s 35-year-old sister Derecia Christopher, Christopher’s three young children, and Christopher’s fiancé lived in the upper-level apartment. According to the family’s timeline, Christopher and her household locked their upper floor and left the property around 7:30 a.m. on the day of the fire. Roughly two hours later, Mohammed and Small, who were on the ground floor, noticed unusual noise coming from the empty upper apartment. Upon investigation, they discovered the space was already engulfed in flames.
Neighbors spotted thick smoke and bright flames billowing from the structure almost immediately, and rushed across to help the family evacuate and battle the blaze, but the fire spread too quickly through the building’s wooden framing. Small recalled the chaotic scene when local media visited the fire-ravaged site the following day, saying “I ran outside when I saw smoke at the top of the house, the roof was engulfed in flames. Everything started to collapse inside the house. The neighbours came across and tried to help us. They even wet the dogs to protect them from the heat. We tried to move the car out of harm’s way, but we couldn’t get it out in time.”
Preliminary investigations into the cause of the fire point to an electrical fault as the most likely source, though official probes are still ongoing to confirm the origin. Remarkably, the entire family escaped the disaster without injury: all residents who had been on the property got out safely before the structure collapsed, and the upper-floor household was already out when the fire broke out, a fact local officials have highlighted as a small blessing amid the tragedy.
Local Government Councillor Raven Ramsawak was among the first officials to respond to the family after the fire, visiting the site to deliver immediate emergency aid including non-perishable food, bottled water, and other basic necessities, while also arranging temporary shelter for the displaced family. Speaking to reporters, Ramsawak emphasized that while the material loss was total, the outcome could have been far worse, noting “Thankfully, no one was hurt nor did anyone lose a loved one. Those who were home escaped without injury. Those in the upper floor were not at home, and we’re grateful for that as the fire started near the electrical wires, which quickly spread onto the roof that became engulfed in the flames.”
To expand support beyond emergency aid, Ramsawak has shared a formal appeal for public donations via his official Facebook page, outlining exactly what the family needs to get through the coming weeks. The requested items include both cooked and uncooked food, general groceries, clothing for adults and children (two five-year-olds and one ten-year-old), basic over-the-counter medication, and sanitary products. Members of the public who wish to donate or offer any other form of assistance can contact Ramsawak’s office at 320-0325, or reach family members directly at 731-7259 (Small) and 334-5582 (Christopher).
Photographs from the scene show Small pulling a single damaged bicycle from the charred rubble of the home — the only personal item the family has managed to recover from the blaze, underscoring the total loss the group has suffered.