A Fire In Grenada

Wow. I just watched someone's entire life go up in flames, literally. At about 1:00p, I heard a small "boom." I was sitting in my room studying and watching the end of a tv show so I didn't think much of it. It kind of sounded like a neighbor dropped something heavy. When my show ended, I decided it was time for some lunch. When I stepped into the kitchen, despite it looking decently blue outside, it sounded like it was pouring rain. Confused and moderately annoyed because I have to leave the house today, I went to the window to investigate and off to the left, discovered huge billows of black smoke and what appeared to be flames. I quickly ran to my front door to investigate. Sure enough, the site next door was on fire.

What do you do when something is on fire in Grenada?! We don't have a 911 option. The only fire station I've seen in Grenada is also in the town of St. George's, not exactly right around the corner. Also, it's Easter Monday here, a holiday. I grabbed my phone and ran outside, contemplating whether it was better to try calling the "emergency" number or perhaps campus security for direction. I hemmed and hawed and decided to see if one of my vet neighbors knew. By the time I got to her door, I could hear faint sirens in the background, so I'm glad someone knew what to do! We ended up standing outside on the balcony watching in horror as flames consumed this tiny shack-like structure. It kind of looks like two very small mobile homes set next to each other about 20 feet apart connected by a tin roof. You can see it in the picture posted below. The fire was completely out of control, and by this time there were a few Grenadian men running about trying to figure out what to do.

Finally a fire truck showed up. Not a big fancy one like you see in the US, but a little firetruck that has tank reserves for water and foam. They got a single hose hooked up and spraying, but it wasn't doing much. They would turn it on and off periodically while others ran around in what must have been an organized chaotic group. Only one man was dressed in a fireman's uniform, one was in coveralls (the kind you wear on the farm or in the garage), and the others were dressed in an assortment of street clothes. The man with gear on had a hat but no respirator or mask. No one had any respiratory protection despite the billowing smoke.

Another 10-15 minutes passed as the first crew struggled to get enough water and flame retardant onto the building when another fire truck arrived. This time a couple of men in fire suits hopped out and two of them even had full respiratory gear. They switched two hoses over to the new truck and we watched with surprise as the other truck got up and drove away! Turns out it needed to go refill. No fire hydrants here in Grenada. They began to make better progress on the fire, but the structure on the left side was collapsing quickly as well as harboring festering flames. They would seemingly get one spot taken care of just for it to light back up in a few minutes.

People ran around with garden hoses and at one point someone hooked up a power washer to add to the mix. They entered underneath the roof area to get better access to the rear flames. I thought for sure the roof was going to collapse on top of them, it was just pieces of sheet metal tacked together and supported by some wooden boards (now turned to ash). It took just over an hour to get the blaze under control. Not completely out, but well under control. I could still see small flames here and there when the fire trucks left. They ended up bringing in a backhoe (conveniently already on site) to smash in the roof and what little was left of the structure. I guess it made it safer for people to be around and maybe helped expose any smouldering areas.

I had always wondered if someone lived there. Occasionally I'd see a woman or people milling about after hours or on the weekends. We were extremely concerned for their safety for awhile. When we finally caught site of the woman 45 minutes into the fire, it was definitely a sigh of relief. I think my landlord's family must know them well, because I spotted them comforting her at one point. I put a call into our landlord to let them know that the building about 20 feet away from their complex was on fire - figured they'd probably want to know since their property was so close. They were very grateful for the phone call and watched in horror as well as the whole scene played out. I felt so helpless, I wanted so badly to be able to do something for the family or for the team of people working. Even just bring them drinks! It was a really hot day already! But we don't really have cups or a way to transport water.

I know the local community will pull together for this family, Grenadians are just those kinds of people. They'll support their friends (everyone knows each other here it seems) and I expect that pretty soon we'll see a new structure erect from the ashes of this one. Until then, a family will mourn their losses as I highly doubt anything was salvageable. I think business will continue as usual - the grounds are perfectly untouched. My heart aches for these poor people, I simply can't imagine what they are going through right now. I am very grateful no one was hurt (or at least not that I know of) and that the fire remained confined to a single property. It was certainly windy enough today that this fire could have spread to nearby houses and been much, much worse.