Sister, 7, saves brother, 4, as home-alone children escape blaze

Feb 07, 2018 News 1

The section of the home where the fire reportedly began.

The mother of two children, ages seven and four, is nowhere to be found after she left them alone at their two-storey concrete home in Glasgow Housing Scheme, East Bank Berbice.
The said property on Monday night caught fire from inside the upper flat of the building while the children were home alone. In a bid to escape, the seven-year-old suffered a broken leg as she heroically tried to save her younger sibling from the blaze.
Reports are that a candle was allegedly left alight in the building and the flames somehow caught on to the wooden floor, engulfing the building from within, with the children, Kison and Kyle Henry, trapped inside.
The fire which reportedly began sometime around 9:30 p.m., attracted the attention of a neighbour who alerted others that smoke and flames were emanating from the edifice.
A neighbour stated that she was informed by a resident that the house was on fire, “the girl seh ‘aunty, aunty, yuh neighbour house on fire’”.
She stated that when she arrived at the location of the inferno with her daughter she saw thick smoke billowing from the upper flat, “after we see the smoke we call the fire service and the police. I ask the neighbour where the kids, and then she tells me how the kids jump through the window”.

The sheet the seven-year-old used to wrap her brother to escape

An eyewitness further added that the children were trapped in the building during the fire since it appeared to have been locked from the outside. The eyewitness said that the older of the two children wrapped her brother in a sheet and lowered him through a window to the surface (lower flat). She then followed behind by jumping, injuring her leg in the process. Villagers rushed to the children’s assistance while the fire tender was on its way. The fire service was able to contain the blaze to the upper flat.
Meanwhile, one villager said that the mother of the children turned up at the scene after the fire and left without inquiring about the wellbeing of her two children. Many said that it is a norm for her to leave them at home to fend for themselves while she is out for hours.
However, a police source told this publication that they are trying to locate the mother who has since disappeared. She has been identified as Tamela Henry. The seven-year-old is said to be hospitalized while the four-year-old is in the care of a neighbour.