81-year-old woman killed in Clarendon house fire

An 81-year-old woman was killed in a house fire in Lionel Town, Clarendon on Saturday.

The deceased has been identified as Fredrica Williams of a Poincianna Terrace address in Lionel Town.

The police report that the fire was caused by a lit candle.

Several southern communities across the central parish are still without electricity following the passage of Hurricane Beryl earlier this month.

Just last week, at this month's sitting of the Clarendon Municipal Corporation, head of the Clarendon Fire Division, Superintendent Horace Thomas warned against the use of candles to illuminate homes after at least three families in the parish lost their houses to fires following the hurricane.

The police report that about 12:46 a.m., a patrol team responded to calls that a four-bedroom concrete dwelling was on fire in Poincianna Terrace, in Lionel Town Housing Scheme.

On arrival, the police were informed by other occupants that an elderly woman was still inside.

According to reports, upon investigation, the fire was started by a lit candle in the deceased woman's room.

A unit from the May Pen Fire Department responded to the incident, and following cooling down operations, the octogenarian's charred remains were found inside the room.

The elderly woman was subsequently confirmed dead at hospital. 

An estimated value of the damage has not yet been determined.

In January, a 60-year-old man died in a house fire in Howells Content, York Town in the parish.

Reports theorised the raze was linked to an electrical malfunction. 

In March, a 65-year-old man also perished in a house fire in Toll Gate, in a reported act of arson.

- Olivia Brown

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