Mother of eight kids risks life to save baby from fire

A Georgetown woman risked her life to save her six-month-old baby from a burning house last evening. Natasha Gittens was asleep with her husband, Jerry Jones, and eight children when her lot 54 Duncan Street home caught fire just after 22:00 hours .

The couple’s eldest son, who is about 12-years-old, was the one who alerted his family that the house was burning down. The young boy that said he woke from his bed and went out into the hallway in the upper flat of the two-storey building. “I walk in the hallway and see the front of the house on fire”, he told Kaieteur News last night.

The boy then immediately ran to his parent’s room and banged on the door screaming that the ‘house on fire’. His father awoke to investigate but there was nothing he could have done but order his children to run for their lives. They all managed escape quickly in their bare under garments except for Gittens who stayed behind to rescue their youngest child.

The blaze spread so rapidly that she was unable to use the stairs to make her escape and so she was left with no choice but run to back of the house and jump from the top flat with her baby in hand. Neighbours who heard the commotion rushed to their assistance and contacted the fire station right away. By the time fire fighters arrived the upper flat was completely destroyed and nothing could be saved. When Kaieteur News arrived at scene, Nastasha Gittens, her foot injured swollen due to the impact of the jump, was being consoled by neighbours and her aunt. The woman’s aunt told this paper that she would be take the family of ten into her home for now.

(Kaieteur News)