As summer draws to a close and families across the Bahamas gear up for a new academic year, one grieving community in Crown Haven is confronting a stabbing pain that has not faded in 12 months. A year ago this August, 12-year-old Montana Ferguson, a seventh-grader at Sherlin C Bootle Secondary School, lost his life when an overnight stay at a friend’s home turned deadly, consumed by an out-of-control house fire that has since sparked urgent calls for long-overlooked fire service infrastructure in the island’s small northern communities.
Montana was staying at the Crown Haven residence of Oceanna Scott on August 25, 2025, when the fire broke out. Scott and her three children managed to flee the burning structure, but they escaped with nothing but the clothes on their lives. Montana, trapped inside the single-story wooden home, could be heard crying out for help as desperate nearby neighbours scrambled to save him, smashing windows and hurling buckets of water in a frantic, futile attempt to douse the flames before emergency crews arrived.
That help was nearly an hour in coming. The nearest fire department in Cooper’s Town faced a 40 to 50-minute drive to reach the remote Crown Haven scene, and by the time firefighters pulled up to the property, the home had already been reduced to ash. Today, Montana’s family says the empty space the seventh-grader left behind feels just as raw as it did the day the fire broke out, especially as back-to-school season arrives.
“It’s been rough, especially for the whole family,” Jacqueline Duncombe, Montana’s aunt, told local media. “We’ve been mourning for a couple of days.” Duncombe explained that her own son shared an especially close bond with Montana, and had looked forward to another school year alongside his cousin. “Ain’t nothing change,” she said of the family’s ongoing grief. “It’s still the same. We still have the same feeling and the same emotion.”
The tragedy reignited long-simmering demands from Little Abaco residents for permanent fire safety infrastructure: a dedicated local fire truck and a network of functioning fire hydrants to cut down on deadly response times. While North Abaco took delivery of a new fire truck in January this year, Montana’s family says the progress comes at a devastating cost, noting the upgrade only came after their loved one’s preventable death.
Law enforcement launched an investigation into the fire within weeks of the tragedy, concluding by last September that the blaze was sparked by an electrical fault, with no evidence of foul play. Assistant Superintendent Stephen Rolle confirmed at the time that once the police probe was finalized, the case file would be sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions to review whether negligence charges should be filed. The incident is also scheduled to be examined by the Coroner’s Court, leaving the family still waiting for formal closure one year on.