In Barbados, Junior Maloney
has no idea where he got the strength to pull
both his 17-month-old daughter and
80-plus-year-old grandmother from their burning
home – but thanks to God he was able to.
Maloney describes what happened last Tuesday
when his uncle Shirley Holder’s home was
virtually destroyed by fire. It was clear the
37-year-old graphic artist spared little thought
for himself.
“I was talking to my aunt next door when we
smelled something funny. She went to look and
then I heard her scream, ‘Shirley! Bring back
water!’ When I ran out, the fire was already in
their verandah,” he said.
The fire consumed most of Holder’s 1st Avenue,
Promenade Road, St Michael, home which he shared
with his wife, daughter and three grandchildren,
and soon spread next door to the home of
Maloney’s grandmother Pearl Holder, where
Maloney and his daughter live.
Maloney said they initially tried to slow the
fire, but he soon realized it was a lost cause
and sprang to action in getting his family out.
He said his grandmother and daughter were
sleeping in their bedroom which was directly
beside where the fire started next door.
“I ran back home next door to get my child and
grandmother out from the bedroom. She suffers
with bad arthritis so she can’t move too well;
so I had to carry my daughter in one arm and
lift my grandmother from around the waist with
the other. I don’t know where I found the
strength,” he said.
Afterwards, he continued his efforts to contain
the fire and prevent it from claiming another
home – his own.
“The fire spread to the ceiling. I had to get
out once pieces of it started to fall. Luckily
this is a wall house which is probably the only
reason the fire didn’t come down and destroy
it,” Maloney said.
Some people may think of Maloney as a hero for
doing what he did, but he said he simply did
what he had to.
“It’s not a matter of being a hero; I was just
looking to get my family out. I’m just glad they
are safe because it could have been worse,” he
said.
Most of his home escaped damage, but it was at
the moment uninhabitable which is why his
grandmother now stays with neighbors and why he
moved into his girlfriend’s house in Grazettes.
“People think because this is a wall house then
there is no damage, but we can’t live here as it
is right now. Plus, my grandmother needs to keep
mobile because of her knees; next door she
can’t,” Maloney said.
The artist is thankful to the people in the
community who helped him in removing his
grandmother's belongings from the house that
day, as well as to Member of Parliament Steve
Blackett, who helped clean the house out and is
arranging for a new paint job.
Pearl Holder in turn is thankful to her
grandson, whom she calls her “right-hand man”,
for all he has done.
Maloney says his next step is to find a new
home, and he is hoping his application to the
National Housing Corporation, which he made long
before the fire, comes through soon.


