So close but yet so far Good Samaritan regrets not being able to save children from fire

Over the past few days, Raheem Snape says his mind has been flooded with thoughts of guilt, reflection and regret.

The 33-year-old is known on Smith Lane and surrounding avenues of Kingston for his bravery whenever there is a fire. But he said he deeply regrets not being able to save seven-year-old Keriecia Hutchinson and her four-year-old sibling Samson Cameron on Saturday afternoon.

“I keep getting flashbacks about the incident and I even visited the place where the fire happened and I couldn’t find the strength to go in the yard. Every minute mi think about it and a say how mi never save dem and mi go in there and never see. We just never see dem and hopefully if summen like dat happen again, we can save the person. All headache mi have,” he said.

It is reported that the children’s mother had left them in the house to purchase items at a nearby shop when the fire started. Snape said he was in his furniture shop working when a neighbour alerted him of the blaze. He said he immediately stopped what he was doing, threw a bucket of water on himself and ran to the scene. Upon hearing that two minors were trapped in the burning building, he along with other men sprang into action and began searching. As they braved the thick smoke and the inferno, their search for the children came up empty.

“The kids’ father came in the back room with us and said the kids were in the front room, so everyone turn their focus to the front. We start out the fire and a look for the kids and can’t find them. We go back to the back room and we and the fireman dem a out it and we start search for the kids again because the mom insist that the children were in the house. So we start move away the things that were burnt and look at them,” he said.

The furniture maker said, a few minutes later, they discovered what remained of the two children, and the sight will forever haunt his memory.

“We start move the burned things dem and we start move some barrel and a so we see the kids dem burn up with the clothes that never burn on top of them. The little girl was laying on top of her brother as she was trying to protect him. I freeze to the point where I couldn’t move. I remember a police came in and started to cry and a say look how we work hard and we still no get a chance to save the kids,” Snape said.

“I went in there and took out the cylinders out the house and I was like a hand reach from them and didn’t know because they were covered under the clothes. We look under the bed dem and still couldn’t find dem. I don’t know if the smoke had knocked them out or what but we were so close but yet so far,” he added.

Snape said he is no stranger to fire, stating that he has rushed into a number of burning buildings and saved not only belongings but people.

“From mi see a fire or anyone a burn out anywhere, the first ting mi ago try do is see if mi can assist. Mi just run in and help people take out dem tings or kids. I can’t tell you how much fire I help with because mi nah count, but I remember pulling a little boy from a fire on Jameson Street. I just help anyone who can help. Is the first time something like this ever happened and anyone died and it just rest heavily on mi,” he said.

Snape said, although he had assisted at many fire scenes, when the inferno came to his doorstep, he was not present to save his belongings.

“On August 2, I got a call that this workshop, which is a family business, was on fire. We never got a chance to save anything at all and, right now, we have to start over from scratch. That’s how life is. A lot of fire happen around these parts and probably it’s just the bad light that cause some of them,” he said.