Son laments not being able to rescue elderly dad from inferno
“I AM just sorry I was not there when the house went up in flames.”
That was the painful, heart-wrenching regret Joseph Innerarity expressed after hearing news of the passing of his father, 85-year-old Fredrick Innerarity, in the Marl Road, Mount Carey community in St James early Friday morning.
Fredrick was burnt to death in his one-bedroom house, which was gutted by fire of unknown origin.
According to residents, flames were seen coming from the senior citizen’s house about 3 a.m. and calls placed to the St James Division of the Jamaica Fire Brigade.
The senior Innerarity’s charred remains were discovered during cooling-down operations.
“I got the call about 4 a.m. and I have been very weak since I got the news. Right now, I still don’t get strong as yet. I am just sorry I was not there ... ,” Joseph told The Gleaner.
“He was friendly, a good person, and ‘jokefy’. Him was a loving father and we were very close because we talked every day. My father loved planting food and he was a labourer,” the son recalled.
The Gleaner was also told that Innerarity, who lived alone, had received the house two years earlier as a gift from the church to replace his former ply-board and zinc-roofed dwelling.
The death of the former labourer has left the wider Mount Carey community in a state of shock.
Shopkeeper Marlon Dennis remembered the elderly Innerarity as a good man.
“He was like a mentor to the youths in the community. We could always reason with him and he would normally come by my shop to collect his goods to go home and cook,” Dennis told The Gleaner. “When I got the call, by the time we got to the house, everything did done burn down already.”
Other community members said Innerarity was quiet and lived well with everyone.
The cause of the blaze is still under investigation.