BREADNUT HILL, St Ann — A bouquet of roses placed on what used to be seven-year-old Tashawna Mattis’ desk at Breadnut Hill Primary School was not enough, Monday, to lift the veil of the sorrow that shrouded the grade two classroom she once shared with classmates. Some drew pictures to show how they felt — therapy to ease the pain that came with news that Tashawna and two younger siblings died in a house fire Sunday morning.

A teary-eyed school Principal Sherron Minott is concerned about her young charges.

“The children are scared and have so much uncertainty because they are worried as to whether the same thing is gonna happen to them. It will be an ongoing thing for our guidance counsellor to give support to students in her class. Some of them are taking it really hard,” she told the Jamaica Observer.

Minott spoke fondly of Tashawna.

“She was such a sweet little girl, very calm and sweet. One student told me that she missed her dearly. The janitor is also terribly affected because one evening she wasn’t picked up early and Tashawna actually stayed with her until her father came. From there they had a bond and she would always look out for her or just say, ‘Mi friend’ whenever she sees her and give her a hug,” Minott said wistfully.

She has reached out to the children’s father, Odane Mattis.

“I went to the spot, spoke to the father, and I know he is distraught because his focus was to care for his child. If anything is happening at the school, we can always depend on him to be here,” Minott said.

Even as she provides comfort to the grieving father and her students, the school administrator is also struggling to cope with the tragedy.

“It is the first that something like this is happening in our school community and it is traumatic. Last night I watched about two movies just trying to get my mind off the situation and relax,” she told the Observer as she dabbed at tears that threatened to flow freely.

An early morning blaze in Walkerswood, St Ann, claimed the lives of Tashawna and her siblings: four-year-old Tashawnie Mattis and two-year-old Tavano Mattis.

Passer-by Travis Davis, who is haunted by the sound of the children screaming inside the burning building, said he saw the fire and called the police about 2:20 am.

Davis said he heard what sounded like an explosion inside the house.

“That was when the roof caved in and the screaming stopped. I just had to watch and couldn’t do anything,” he told the Observer on Sunday, adding that a man standing next to him advised him against trying to enter the burning house.

“I wanted to try and go in because those children are babies,” said Davis, who is the father of a five-year-old.

According to residents, the children were left in the two-bedroom house with their grandmother, but she isn’t agile enough to do much for herself and the children. The elderly woman and another sibling of the three deceased children managed to escape the burning house through a back door. It is alleged that there was no electricity at the house and that a burning candle may have been the cause of the tragedy.

On Monday, the Jamaica Fire Brigade’s Assistant Commissioner incharge of Area Two Julian Davis-Buckle and her team were at Breadnut Primary to offer support and advice on fire safety. They were joined by teams from the National Council on Drug Abuse as well as guidance counsellors from the education ministry’s region three and others who provided support to those affected by the trauma of three young lives being tragically lost.

According to senior education officer from the region’s guidance and counselling unit Harlene Gordon-Riley, they were there from 8:00 am.

“Some of children, we realise, were still upbeat and going about their day because they don’t know what happened, so we tried to maintain that. However, for those in her class we can say that those students were in shock, so we saw the tears and sadness,” she said.

“Our team is here on the ground helping them to process the death, [tell them] what to expect and to express how they feel through drawing and that has been helping so far,” she added.