Published: September 25, 2025
MONROVIA — A woman and her two children died early Wednesday in a fire outbreak that gutted their upstairs apartment in Jacob Town, Rehab community, leaving residents in shock and grief.
The blaze, which broke out at around 1:26 a.m. while the family was asleep, claimed the lives of the woman, identified only as Philomena, and her two sons, Casal and Devine Kessellie, according to Crado Dahn, a reporter with Strong FM 98.3.
“The fire was intense, and despite the swift arrival of the Liberia National Fire Service, both firefighters and community residents were unable to rescue the family,” Dahn reported.
Residents described the scene as chaotic, with women crying and men desperately assisting firefighters in battling the flames. “There were echoes of wailing from the voices of community residents, especially women, who wept bitterly while men and boys tried very hard, along with the firefighters, to quench the blazing fire,” Dahn said.
Firefighters, already exhausted from an earlier blaze at former President George Weah’s residence on 9th Street in Sinkor, struggled to contain the Jacob Town inferno.
The Liberia National Fire Service has yet to determine the cause of the fire. A fire service source, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed that investigations are ongoing but stressed that no structural damage extended beyond the family’s apartment.
The Jacob Town incident is the latest in a string of deadly fires in Monrovia. Just three days earlier, the residence of retired Major General Prince Charles Johnson III, Director of the National Security Agency, was also destroyed by fire in the Soul Clinic community.
The Liberia National Fire Service has not released official casualty figures for recent incidents but has urged residents to adopt stronger fire safety measures as investigations continue.
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