Fire leaves dressmaker homeless on her birthday

What began as a quiet birthday morning, marked by prayer and gratitude, ended in devastation for Letitia Wright, after a fire destroyed her Alton Villa Road home on Monday, wiping out everything she owned, including the tools she depends on to earn a living.

Wright, a dressmaker, said she was still in bed with her spouse , Rolford Hazel, when the fire began at their house near the intersection of Slipe Pen Road and Alton Villa Road. It was her 62nd birthday, and moments earlier she had been focused on a message on her phone, reflecting quietly.

"I was inside my bedroom laying down. I just wake up, and because it's my birthday, me a focus pan something on my phone saying happy birthday to me, and thank God I am here today to see another day," she told THE STAR.

"Father, you are my strong tower."

Shortly after, a relative called to wish her happy birthday. When the call ended, Wright said she noticed something was wrong.

"When she hung up now, me smell something and me run to the living room. In the corner of the living hall, Mi see the little sparks and I tell mi spouse."

The couple immediately tried to fight the flames themselves, using buckets of water inside the house.

"Whole heap a bucket in deh, and me start ketch water and throw, and my husband start to help me."

As panic set in, Wright said her thoughts were scattered. "Me drop the phone pan the bed. Me have money in deh, but me naah think. Me just drop the phone and try save my room."

By the time firefighters arrived from the York Park station -- some five minutes away -- she said her bedroom had not yet been consumed, giving her a brief sense of hope.

"I thought it would be saved since they are here, but nothing nuh save at all. Everything gone."

The loss, she said, was complete. "Mi fridge, mi stove, mi washing machine, mi whatnot, mi dresser, mi sewing machine everything."

Wright explained that the concrete dwelling had approximately six rooms. She and her husband, who has been ill and recently started medication, had not got out of bed earlier that morning.

"If we did get up, probably we would a see seh something wrong. But we never get up we lay down pan the bed."

The couple has lived at the location since 2008 and occupied the home alone. With the house now destroyed, Wright said she and her husband will have to rely on family for shelter.

"I don't know what will become of this. I'll have to sleep at a family home," she said. "I feel disappointed. I feel different... because mi nuh save nothing."

The fire also spread to affect a newly arrived tenant living at the side of the property.

The woman was not home at the time, but her daughters were inside helping to prepare the space when they noticed smoke. They explained that their mother had only just moved in and had not fully unpacked.

"She never pack out the whole a the something them. We go in there a try look fi things, but cya find it... then me see smoke a come."

Their attempts to save belongings were cut short as the smoke thickened and danger increased.

"By the time we try fi draw out the stove, it heavy and nah come out. Smoke was everywhere," one said, adding they quickly retreated out of fear that the cooking gas cylinders inside would explode.