By EARYEL BOWLEG

Tribune Staff Reporter

ebowleg@tribunemedia.net

ELEVEN families were displaced after a fire destroyed four homes in Bimini yesterday and exposed the dysfunctional firefighting equipment on the island.

Residents battled the flames with hoses from their homes and buckets of water drawn from the sea. Some cried as the houses burned down but there were no reports of injuries. 

Videos showing the destructive blaze spread across social media on Sunday. 

“I lost everything,” said 36-year-old Danika Cartwright-Weech, a newlywed who moved into her home last month. “I don’t know what happened. All I know is I woke up and my roof was basically on fire; that was it.”

Pastor Oral Ellis recounted waking up to unusual sounds and hearing a neighbour screaming for him to escape the house.

“When I get out the door, I looked up and (the) bedroom upstairs, that was fully engulfed,” he said. “So the only thing I could do was go back into my bedroom. I grabbed my wallet and my phone and my glasses.”

Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis travelled to Bimini with a delegation to assess the damage. In a meeting with victims, he pledged to help them return to normalcy.

Residents said after the fire began around 5am in the Porgy Bay settlement, it spread to multiple densely situated homes.

In addition to the four destroyed structures, three houses were extensively damaged by water and smoke.

Obie Wilchcombe, Minister of Social Services and MP for the island, said officials secured apartments for the displaced residents and money for them to purchase clothing from Mucka Mucks.

“Our social services team has already prepared the slips for you to be able to go to  the shops immediately to purchase food,” he told the residents at a meeting. “Those have been done and are in place now.” 

Inadequate fire equipment angered residents who said the blaze would have been contained with functional equipment.

 “We really need a fire engine truck in Bimini like yesterday,” said Hugh Smith. “A lot of us took a big risk getting burned in the fire and the smoke. Right now when I belch I belching smoke. All my head hurting right now, but if we had firetruck this morning, we only probably would have lose one room in one house but we end up losing five houses and almost lose the big apartment on the next side.”

 Bimini island administrator Desiree Ferguson said the fire had spread uncontrollably by the time some “mobile ones” reached the scene. She suggested Resorts World Bimini sent the units.

 “One didn’t have enough pressure; the other one worked but it wasn’t sufficient water,” she said.

 Mr Wilchcombe said officials know they need to replenish the fleet of fire trucks. He said two mechanics will visit the island to examine the engines of the trucks there.

 “It’s a situation that obviously is as I move unacceptable and it’s one of those things that we have to contend with,” he said.