74-Year-Old Woman Perishes In Morvant House Fire — Tight Security Measures Prevented Rescue

An elderly woman is dead following a fire at a two-storey residence in Morvant on Friday morning (6th March, 2026). The deceased has been identified as 74-year-old Marachia “Agnes” Hernandez of LP #26 First Caledonia Road, who lived in a ground-floor apartment of the home. Tight security measures are said to have prevented her rescue.

According to reports, screams were heard coming from the ground-floor, around 11:30 AM, which alerted the couple living upstairs, Arlene Richards and Patrick Walsh, as well as neighbours, to the fire in Hernandez's apartment.

Richards said the intense smell of smoke had earlier raised her suspicion that a fire had broken out somewhere. “I shout 'fire downstairs!’ The only thing I grabbed was my phone. I started calling the fire brigade,” Richards told reporters outside the now-destroyed property. “Everything gone. Every single living thing gone.”

Richards said her husband rushed to rescue the elderly woman, along with neighbours, from the apartment, but they all struggled to gain access to Hernandez. “When he opened the door, he meet up a wrought iron [gate], and he said that it had a next door, which I don't understand. Why you have a door, a wrought iron and a next door in a house?” Richards questioned.

“But they really tried. Them guys around here. They worked to get her, but they couldn't get her. They tried, they tried.”

Fire Officers from both the Morvant and San Juan Fire Stations responded to reports of the blaze. However, by the time they arrived at the scene, the house was already engulfed in flames. Firefighters also reportedly faced challenges due to difficulties in securing a constant water supply.

Officials from the Trinidad and Tobago Electricity Commission (T&TEC) also responded and disconnected the electricity supply to the property.

The house, described as a two-storey cream-coloured concrete structure with wooden flooring and a galvanized metal roof, measured approximately 10 metres by 12 metres. The building was completely destroyed by the fire. 

The value of the destroyed property has been estimated at approximately TT $600,000. 

After the blaze was extinguished, Fire Officers sifted through the debris and discovered the partially burnt remains of Hernandez inside the ground-floor apartment.

A District Medical Officer (DMO) visited the scene, viewed the remains and ordered its removal, pending a post-mortem examination.

Richards said her husband ultimately suffered a massive heart attack and remains hospitalized following the fire.

Investigations are continuing to determine the cause of the devastating blaze.

More on this as it becomes available. 

[Source: T&T Guardian]

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