A 56-year-old woman was rushed to the Georgetown Public Hospital Saturday morning after a fire broke out at a house on the Bagotstown Public Road, East Bank Demerara.
The two-storey building was occupied by two families – six upstairs where the injured woman resided and another three persons in the lower flat.
The fire started sometime around 10:00h at the Lot 3 Public Road Bagotstown house which is located at the back of the MedX Pharmacy.
According to the injured woman’s daughter, Nadisha Yusuf, she and her mother had gone back to sleep after waking up early to prepare meals for her father to take to work. She recounted that they were sleeping in the upstairs room when her aunt from downstairs rushed up and alerted them of the fire.
The Bagotstown house that was destroyed by fire on Saturday morning
“My mommy get up when she hear (my aunt shouting fire) and I feel somebody pulling my hand… When I get up I see smoke and fire so I tried to help mommy because she can’t see good and she get arthritis so she don’t walk good too. So I lift she up from the bed and bring she out,” the young woman recalled.
She added that “…when she de coming out the bedroom, she fall and get burn [on both of her feet].”
At that time, the young woman said the blaze had already spread through the living room and bathroom area.
Meanwhile, the pregnant wife of Nadisha’s cousin, Samantha, and the couple’s son were in another room in the upper flat when the fire broke out.
Samatha explained to this newspaper that she was with her son on their bed when her mother-in-law, who lives in the lower flat, called out to her.
“When my mother-in-law come up, she see the fire start spreading from the ceiling and when we come out, we see the fire done catch on the chair and spreading to go to the room them,” she related.
The pregnant woman lamented that they lost everything in the fire.
“All thing burn up, everything. We ain’t got nothing. All them clothes – the baby clothes and things them that we buy to go in hospital all get burn up,” Samantha cried.
The family believes that the fire was electrical in nature since it started in the ceiling.
Nadisha related that the house was being renovated and the electricians went to do some work Friday night.
“Them people come [Friday] night and fix the wire and it look like them do it hurry, hurry because they had to go to Berbice so I ain’t know [what happened],” the young woman told this publication.
Nevertheless, firefighters were able to contain the blaze from spreading to neighbouring houses which were close in proximity and had businesses. These include the front building which houses a pharmacy and another store next door. (G8)
