A four-year-old boy struck a match and started a fire that destroyed a Lovely Bay, Acklins home over the weekend.

Jacqline Simms, the mother of the four-year-old, said the fire started in her children’s bedroom.

Her son lit the bed with the matches he got from the kitchen.

The fire started at 11:00 a.m. Saturday.

Her older son notified her that his younger brother started the blaze.

By the time she responded, the smoke was heavy and the fire had already spread.

As a result of the fire, North Acklins was without electricity for several hours.

There are no fire fighters or fire truck on the island. Therefore, residents had to carry buckets of water from the nearby coastline to help extinguish the fire.

Mario Virgil, one of the first respondents on the scene, said that without a fire engine there was only so much he and the other residents could have done to control and extinguish the fire.

“The fire started from the top and I tried to get into the kitchen to turn the gas off,” Mr. Virgil said.

He added that he had to break one of the windows to get in, but unfortunately it was too late as the fire had already spread.

Acklins is not equipped with an emergency response team to handle situations like this.

“Every island should have fire truck and trained firemen,” Mr. Virgil said.

As the thick black smoke clouded the sky and the flames engulfed the Simms’ home, many residents on the island gathered in the street to provide assistance and comfort for the family.

The Simms family lost everything in the fire. Luckily the family has another home in nearby Crooked Island.

According to Mrs. Simms’ husband, Francis, the family will relocate to Crooked Island temporarily.