French Quarter: --- A fire of unknown origin has left nine people homeless; of the nine four of them are minors. The fire began sometime around 2 am Sunday morning at wooden home at Rue de Gourde.
According to one resident, one of the houses could have been saved but the fire truck came with very little water. They eventually had to call the Dutch side fire trucks to give assistance. The resident said had the firemen did their job the second house would have still been standing. One of the hindrances is fire hydrants in the area were not working and the trucks came with limited water. "It is clear that the Pompier failed the victims of last night's fire SMN News were told.
A third house was also scorched on the side, but damage to that building was minimal due to the fact a neighbor by the name of Desmond climbed on top of the roof of the third home in which the President of the French Quarter community council lives and poured water on the roof and the second house that was ablaze.
Alain Arnell gave huge credit to Desmond for saving his home with a short piece of garden hose. "I am not getting into propaganda but I will deal with this situation at the community council meeting, this is nothing but ridiculous" Arnell said. On the scene there were a number of children who panicked and were screaming as they see the blaze engulfed the homes of friends and families. Several residents from French Quarter were on the scene giving a helping had to remove the vehicles that were parked in the immediate area. The owners of Hungry's were seen physically lifting a car up so that a water truck could go into a nearby alley to put out the blaze.
Another neighbor said the fire started from outside of the first building where residents from the Dominican Republic live. That family had to get out of the house after smoke engulfed the inside of the house which was stifling them.
That family was able to wake everyone up and they did not see fire inside the building. It was not until they got outside they saw flames on the side and roof of the house. While it is still not known what the exact cause of the fire was there are speculations that it could have been a faulty air conditioning. Another neighbor said that a youth that is living in the first home was smoking cigarette inside his room and apparently he left the bud of the cigarette on his bed which caused the blaze. However, the residents did not want to comment on that scenario saying that they would wait and hear what the firemen investigation would yield.
One of the residents Oretta Hendricks who has been living in the area for more than 27 years has lost all of their life savings. The woman was seen combing the rubble to see if she could salvage any of her belongings. Asked for a comment the woman said nobody would give me anything or help me I am a pauper now what should I talk about after this she said.
Efforts made to contact Fire Brigade Cleo Gumbs proved futile since these officers do not work on weekends.
