A 92-year-old retired police officer died yesterday morning after he was trapped in his St Joseph Road apartment during an early morning fire.
Christopher Warner, who would have turned 93 in June, confined himself to his bed except for when he needed to go to the bathroom, retired as a corporal.
His daughter, Gloria Woods, told the T&T Guardian her father was injured while as a motorcycle police officer during his time and suffered a burnt leg which hampered his walking. Upon retirement and growing older, the injury got worst, she said. With all his facilities s in order, Woods said her father was afraid to walk on the now feeble leg, fearing he may fall. Woods described her father as both stern and jovial and last spoke with him about four days ago.
Warner’s caretaker Angela Edwards, who lives one apartment away, said she last saw Warner around 9 pm Monday. She added that Warner never used candles as the apartment had electricity. She said she knew Warner had to die but lamented “not like that man, not like that”.
Residents said Warner might have tried to reach for the bedroom window of his second floor apartment as he was found in a east to west direction while his bed was in a north to south direction.
One resident, Obadred Phillip, who celebrated his 60th birthday yesterday, said he was out on his porch awaiting the sunrise as he does every morning when he saw smoke coming from Warner’s apartment. Phillip said at first he thought the smoke was coming from the nearby Beetham Landfill but soon heard screams for help.
Phillip said the fire would have began just after 6 am as sunrise was at 6.29 am yesterday. After seeing the fire he grabbed his documents and cash and began screaming fire and banging down the doors of his neighbours. He said his creams replaced the defective fire alarm for the nine storey building which was built before 1963.
Phillip and other residents said they tried to get to Warner but could not due to the thick smoke and intense heat. All anyone could have done was to run out of the building, most of them semi-nude.
Residents said the Housing Development Corporation (HDC) should shoulder some of the responsibility for the fire as the sprinkler system they installed is non-functional. There is pipes in each of the 54 apartments in the building but there is no water connection.
Residents complained that following an arson attack in December 2011 at Trou Macaque, Laventille which left four people dead including three children, they never got a promised fire escape.
The sprinkler system project began in 2015 but ended sometime after having not been completed. The T&T Guardian was informed that gang warfare over the awarding of the contract to retrofit the building caused the project to cease before completion.
Another resident, 27-year-old Stephon Brizan said the argument of gang warfare over the awarding of the contract is foolish as there could have been safety measure put in place to ensure that the job was completed without harm to anyone. He and his mother ,Gregorian , both called to be relocated as the building they said is unsafe and with yesterday’s fire it is more so than ever before.
In 2014 an elderly couple and three young children were saved from a fiery death at an HDC building on Nelson Street.
The survivors were all tenants on the top floor of the building which to date lack fire escapes.