Police have confirmed the death of 82 year-old Etherline Nicholas who perished in a fire at Fond Cole earlier this evening.
Reports reaching Dominica News Online indicate that the woman was the sole occupant of a building which was engulfed by the flames.
The fire occurred in the housing scheme which is located above the DOMLEC power plant at Fond Cole.
DNO has learnt that the victim is the the grand mother of a member of the national women football team, Kadisha Joseph.
Acting deputy fire chief Anthony Williams said the Fire Service responded to a call of a house fire at around 7:40 on Tuesday evening with two fire trucks.
Upon arrival the house was already burning and firemen immediately went into action.
The charred remains of Nicholas was found after the fire was extinguished and the police summoned on the scene, according to Williams.
The cause of the fire is still being investigated.
When I initially commented I clicked the “Notify me when new comments are added” checkbox and now each time a comment is added I get four emails with the
same comment. Is there any way you can remove people from that service?
Thanks a lot!
Am I the only puzzled on here? There is a house next door (the brick and mortar structure seen) You mean the neighbors did not think to run over and try to get the lady out when they saw the fire? (that is of course, if they were home?)
Hmmm? Couldnt there be more done?
This is just so sad and raises many questions:
1)why was this poor lady who had mobility issues as well as dementia left alone at night with a candle burning?
2)One can’t help but note that her relatives lived a stone’s throw away in a brick building while she was left alone to fend for herself in a wooden shack which had no electricity and running water.
3)She worked very hard to fend for not only herself but also her children and some of her many grandchildren. Where were they? She deserved much better than that.
4) I understand her family is awaiting the arrival of her grandchildren from overseas to come for the funeral. I guess they will be buying a very nice casket to put her remains in and no doubt, she will have a very nice burial. Too bad Granny wasn’t shown this kindness when it mattered – during her twilight years on earth.
Where was the Welfare Dept.in all of this? It is my understanding this office had been contacted on several occasions regarding this lady’s living conditions yet no action was taken to get her into The Home for The Aged.
Her family and the system failed her miserably and it cost her life. All I know is retribution is a terrible thing. Hope you all can sleep well at night.
If what you stated is true, it is extremely sad. Since it was a housing scheme why did it not contain electricity and running water? Is it an older housing scheme? Even so the government should have ensured that there was electricity and water in the home and for one who is aged.
People with dementia and such illnesses should not be living alone to fend for themselves. This is pure negligence and inconsideration of whoever was responsible for her.
This is a worldwide problem with some people who are supposed to care of the elderly. God is taking note of how the elderly are treated.
(y)
Sorry and for the length. I had the urge to write this for your information, no exception the government and the DA fire department. Hope it will be well-taken and serve a good purpose.
Some of you stated that the lady or elderly people should not live alone. You are not wrong. I echo your sentiments. Know that some people prefer living alone. I do not blame them. However, I think beyond and consider that relatives, friends or neighbors could have visited her and soon after they left or a few hours after this sad incident could occur.
I do not wish to be a bearer of bad news, more than it already is. However, as an after thought I hoped that her home was not set on fire. People could be wicked. This is a realism which could also have happened.
This brought the following to my mind. A dear lady, who is still alive, now elderly of course, and is not well due to her age, informed me when I was a teenager about what happened to a close relative of mine. This lady and her family are close friends of mine. Whenever I visit home, they are the No.1 people on my list to visit. I will never leave home without visiting them. Her daughter and I are friends since childhood. What fond memories.
Generally I have a good memory of certain incidents which occurred since childhood. When I relate certain occurrences to some people, they inform me that I have a good memory. I continue to take certain Vitamins as I did since childhood. They surely help especially as we grow older. This may account for my good memory. I hope, on occasion, for we cannot always remember everything.
Continuing, my father was a young man, if not a teenager in his late teens or early 20’s. My parents did not reside in the same area. They did not yet know each other and obviously, were not married and I was not yet born. I am an adult. You could visualize how many years this occurred.
This dear lady informed me that a fire occurred at the home of my relative. I cannot remember if she told me that the relative was sleeping, was indoors or was out. Most probably the relative was not in. A fire occurred in the house and burnt it down. This relative lost everything. You can imagine the shock and disappointment of what occurred. It appeared that it was not known how the house happened to burn down.
The dear lady told me about this fire and that while a woman was dying (I do not know who she was), she said on her death bed that “this relative’s house on fire is burning her”. She mentioned the relative’s name. She said this in patois and her words were related to me in patois.” I suppose this is how people found out after many years that she was responsible for burning down the house.
From what I was told, that woman was envious of this relative. My relative’s family, still young (all my relatives) resided with her was more educated and financially better off than her, that woman. Therefore, envy caused it.
Christians should know that “envy is one of the deadly sins” which lead to greater sins, a sin as this and murder. Common sense and our instinct will inform us that people do not have to be better off than others to be harmed. Some people are just jealous of others for whatever reasons and there are many. They also set people on fire.
As God will have his way, he allowed it to happen for all to hear that those who commit atrocious crimes which no one knows about will not leave this world silently. Their mouths will be forced to open to confess their crimes in the presence of others.
Some years ago I heard of another case in Roseau where a dying woman was deux parlez-ing on her death bed. Some people who heard about it, out of curiosity surrounded her home to listen to her tell of the wrong things she did. This was something else. As stories spread, I heard about her (did not know her personally) when I resided in DA about some of the things she did to others at that time.
The lesson to be learned here is, always do good that when we are dying we will be talking silently to Our Lord Jesus Christ, asking him to have mercy on our soul rather than relating the evil that we did for all to hear. I often wonder where the souls of those evil people are. This is a message for all.
I am hoping the DA fire department will find the cause of this fire. I am wondering if they are trained in investigating causes of fires and this latest one which led to the death of the lady. It is so sad. The fire department should pursue this for evidence. May they be successful in finding the cause of this fire.
My symparhies goes out the the family of the fire victim of Fond Cole. May her soul rest in eternal peace.
In recent years, Dominica has had a few fires which resulted in deaths of senior citizens. It is sad and disconcerting to hear and read about it. There was one too many because they may not be educated about home safety and what to do in case of a fire.
Government, fire department, the department which may be responsible for senior citizens, should conduct a survey to determine how many senior citizens reside alone and educate them about home safety. They may have relatives in the country including friends and neighbors who could check on them. While this cannot guarantee their safety and permanently at that, they should also be educated on what to do in the event of a fire, hopefully, they are able to get out in time.
Another important matter is having a smoke detector and a fire alarm in the home which should be loud enough and will alert residents when a fire occurs. If they are sleeping, the alarm will surely wake them up which could assist them to immediately get out of the house. There are more precautions to take in the event of a fire. The fire department should know about them and able to inform residents about these safety issues.
What is the government, fire department and the politicians who represent them in the riding where they reside doing about assisting the elderly in this safety matter and informing them of the means of escape should a fire occur? Please do something about it so that, hopefully, another death of a senior citizen who especially lives alone does not occur in a fire.
You are the authority and hopefully are expertise in this matter. Residents are looking to you to inform them about these important issues which will help to save lives.
ala, this is the third person dieing from a fire in the last 2 years :(. My prays to the fanily.
ala this is the third female woman dieing in the last 2 years.
Never realized it had female men…… read ur comments before posting…. making ur smartness
sad news
tanks for your supports everyone…..RIP GRANNY…
courage to the family
My prayers to all those who are mourning for the lose of this lady. Let us pray for guidance for the elderly persons who live alone.
where are her children? what do they have to say? An old lady leaving alone in such a place at that age. Damn shame!!!! may her soul rest in peace
i remember julien joseph’s wife. such a sad way to die.. people take hid that the fire burnet her to death but there is coming a day when those who do not accpet christ will be in the lae of fire where the worm dieth not..imagine not even worm dat will die.. so let us be prepared and work the works of God. “And if your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell, 48 where
“‘the worms that eat them do not die,
and the fire is not quenched. Mark 9:47-48” i do not want to b there..Lord give us your strength to live for you here on earth.
What is your point?
Learn to spell first. This is about a tragedy. Pray tell, why the fire and brimstone speech? My sympanthies to the family.
They say you cannot spell, that may be true because in the case where you wrote “hid” I suppose you wanted to write “heed” which means to pay attention, or give consideration, or attention to something or notice something..
Hid would be used in reference to something hidden, if I say you hid your face, that would be in present however if I say you are hiding from me that would be now. I can understand you write the way you speak, and that is all due to the Dominica accent, we find more than half the Simi educated people in Dominica write the way they speak.
Astonishingly I see you wrote “48 where” I do not understand what that entails> I need to inform you simply because we claim to be Christians, and are quoting scriptures, that does not make us scholastically educated overnight.
You are not the only one who’s short coming has surfaced here: someone named ” birdy1964″ also have a problem, that person does not know the difference in the words ” leave, and live. Leave indicates someone is changing direction, or moving from one place to another.
To live means one is alive, or they, resides in a certain location, such as I live in Los Angeles; I left Wesley and came to live; reside permanently in Los Angeles.
Someone named: Freedom wrote “dats” why, I suppose the freedom wonted to write “that’s why, meaning ” that is why!
Now as for the person named ” my Granny” let me say if that is your name the first letter in my should be capitalized thus “My.” I now say to “my Granny” had you love you granny while she was alive, perhaps you would not have left her alone, thus she perished in the fire. People especially ageing people does not need a bed of Roses when they are dead, it would have been more important to her if you were in that house to help her out of the burning flames, with that said, I must say I sympathies, and my empathy goes out to you and her surviving relatives.
Chances are if you were with her, you might also be sound asleep and perish in the flames also. Only God knows why he allowed that to happen to her, take comfort in God word where he said ” to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.
Note: in all the comments I read, there is something wrong, some people commenced sentences with lower case letters, I am sure if someone scrutinized what I wrote here some error will be found, I do not edit what I write, but people need to be careful what the write, because Dominicans are not the only people reading DNO, out bad, broken English, and fragmented sentences speaks volumes as to who we are!
Francisco Etienne-Dods Telemaque
“hid your face” is past tense not present tense; the word is semi-educated and not Simi; and subject-verb agreement: someone has not someone have; and they reside not they resides; ageing people do not need… not ageing people does not need…
Fracisco while you are busy scrutinizing other’s writing for errors, eh bien yours well full wee!
sorry Francisco not Fracisco; typographical error… ooops!
But wait a minute! You are correcting people´s English and yours isn´t any better! Shame on you, whoever you are!
i guess Francisco Dodds Telemaque meant to write wanted when he wrote “wonted”
Telemaque, some of your comments surely make me laugh.
By the way, yes, you do make mistakes. The last sentence of your writing, the word is “they” not “the”.
As I have previously stated, everyone makes mistakes. No one is perfect. However, these days nearly everyone has computers. We do not know who they are, their lifestyle, status and educational status. Computers allow people to access Websites and comment as they so wish whether they can speak, write or spell English properly. Be aware that we are not participating in a competition.
I for one, being nurtured by my parents whom I consider overall ‘perfectionists’ in nurturing their children, nurtured me accordingly. I also attribute this to the DA elementary and high schools I attended. Three of the emphases were on intelligence, as speaking, writing and spelling accurately. By this people will know how we were brought up, what type of schooling we received and publicly and socially, who and what we are. This is still as important to me as it were in those years when at school to adulthood in DA to today as an adult residing abroad. I always strive to be perfect, always trying to do my utmost, to the best of my ability. I am always seeking ways of improving.
When I was attending high school, during a relevant conversation, my father said to me, you never stop learning until the day you die. I keep this in mind.
By the way, I know Telemaque’s from Wesley. I am certain they know my parents and family. I have no doubt that I know you too and you know me, if only casually.
Take care Telemaque. Be nice to your fellow Dominicans on this Website and elsewhere. Be patient with all.
Elevate your country. Sing its praises and do not bring it down. This is a mark of love for it and patriotism. No matter how many years we have resided abroad, it is still our land-of-birth we loved then and should still love for its qualities. Memories of it cannot be erased. Do not lose sight of that.
St. Paul said, “Bless people. Do not curse them.” Our Lord said, the curses of those who curse you fall on Me.” For He taught us to love one another. God bless!
learn to spell what nonsence that please do not frighten people with your sayings
Do you pray for others and the entire world that you will be saved? Do you pray for those (whoever and wherever in the world) who do not practice the faith, no exception criminals that they may repent and God may save them?
It is not all talk and writing; not only reading the Bible, knowing what is contained in it, quoting from it, listening to someone preach, being aggressive toward others, criticizing their faith, beliefs and devotions that eternal salvation will be obtained.
Everyone has to do their part, lovingly, including performing charitable works. One of it is “to respect the religious beliefs and devotions of others.” This entails love for God and for others.
In addition, only God knows the spirituality of others and the depth of their soul. No one has privy to this. God is the One and Only Judge. He alone saves souls. No one knows if souls are saved or not. For it is said: “Nearer to church, further from God” and “Going to church does not make one holy.” Our Lord said, “By their fruits you will know them.” Nevertheless we are not to judge them but pray for them.
My suggestion to you is to save your soul and ensure that “you are living in faith so that you will pass the test” – Holy Scripture. And, there is more which will please God most and appease him to grant eternal salvation. It is in the Bible!
When we as children will learn to take care of our elderly parents. This is not the duty of gov’t it is ours as children. Oh it is so sad that this elderly lady could die in such a way just a short distance from her daughter.
I agree with you. Under the circumstances, it definitely is uncalled for. This person is not showing compassion for her family.
For I have much to say to them even though they will not listen and pay heed as they continue their criticisms and aggressiveness.
It is so sad that the lady died. I visualize how she suffered prior to dying. She must have called on God to save her and have mercy on her. There are many people as this person who do not consider it.
This is the manner they carry on especially when they renounce their Catholic Christian faith, thinking that they now know more, know it all and are experts more so than Catholics. I will stop at that before I say anymore which can occur.
Each one must look out for the other including neighbors. Educating them on safety issues will help.
Oh geez man! Isn’t there legislation against elderly folks being left by themselves? If not, there is need for this to be seriously looked at. Not long ago, a lady died in a fire at Zicark, Portsmouth because there was not sufficient manpower at home to get her out of the house. If, as a country, we have initiated the “Yes we care” programme, there is urgent need for us to ensure that those who are cared for are never left alone. Our elderly folks are a part of our national heritage and they must be protected at all costs.
There are times people live with others and they could still die in a fire. They may be out or sleeping. If they are at home, the flames could be so strong even though the occupants try to get to the person they have no alternative but to retreat.
What the government, the fire department should do is to educate them about safety in the home.
I reside in Toronto and with the population fires occur frequently. There are times injuries and deaths occur. The City Councilor for the area I reside in occasionally mails safety information for the home and also when walking the streets, pertaining to avoiding traffic accidents. As each one reaches one (I love sharing important information), after reading them, I photocopy or email them and send to others who reside in other parts of city. I also speak to some others about it. This is keeping others informed who may not receive the information.
We should not blame the lady or any member of her family. What needs to be done for senior citizens is to educate them on home safety. The government, a relevant department should do this. This is important.
If you reside in DA or those who read this could address this issue to the government. It is important and could save lives especially that of the elderly who reside alone. When there is a fire, at such a time, people do get confused. Keep in mind, accidents happen and will always happen and we know not when. It may occur through faulty wiring, a lighted candle, etc. Nevertheless, do not let this deter you from addressing it to the government/fire department so that they could caution nationals about it. Let us not only talk/write and do nothing about it. You could save a life or many lives. As I always state, we are each other’s keepers. We are here to help others. We should not be living solely for ourselves. These are acts of love/charity. Let us do our part. As it is stated, “God will be pleased with loving acts.
Please accept my sympathies and prayers.
My sympathies to the family, I don’t understand why this old lady leave alone by herself sleeping in this location, is this the actual location,if so. Why government allow building to be built in such remote area.Brandtweg can drive to this house, and don’t put themselves in danger. We have to take good care of our elders because on day we will be elders.
my sympathy to all the family may your soul rest nelly
Very sad news, my condolences goes out to the family and friends of the decease. May the joy of The Lord be your strength. He will see you all through this trying times.
That’s a very sad way to die so sad
it is very sad, dats why it is never good to be alone especially at nights. may her familly be comforted
very sad . my smpathies go out to her family. may her soul rest in piece
thanks to all who sympathize with us during our time of deepest sorrow…love you granny.
Very tragic. Deepest sympathies to her family,friends and community.
RIP
My granny is 86…the reality of it brought tears to my eyes immediately. So sad, RIP and may the family be comforted during such a torturous time.
How sad that she died tragically.
My sympathy to her family.
May she rest in peace. Amen!
Very sad, what a way for an elderly to die.
sad but unfortunate.. RIP Ma.Nelly
sad but unfortunate.. RIP ma.nelly
so sad my heart goes out to the family
Sympathy going out to Kadisha from all at G.S.S. May you be comforted during this difficult time.
Very sad about this news. Its not a good thing when elderly people are living on their own. May her soul rest in peace!!!!!
very sad way to die.. RIP. may the good Lord strengthen your family during this tragic moment
Oh very sad may your soul rest in peace,
Rip Ms Nicholas.. This is a sad situation this evening..
my sympathies to the family