Fifteen persons have been rendered homeless after a fire, believed to have been started by unsupervised children, destroyed a three-bedroom home at Lot 31 Kingelley Village, West Coast Berbice on Wednesday.
Some of the couple’s children
Reports are that tragedy struck at just before midday, while most persons were enjoying their planned Emancipation Day programmes; and within minutes, the building was reduced to rubble. This newspaper was told that 11 children, aged 17, 15, 13, 11, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 3 and a 1-year-old baby, are among those homeless.
Also homeless are home owner Maxwell McDonald, his wife and two other adult children.
When this newspaper arrived on the scene, McDonald detailed that none of the children told him what had caused the fire, but he noted that they were all confused. “One of them go and hide from the fire in a barrel,” he explained.
He told this publication that at the time of the blaze, the only adult at home was a 22-year-old step-child who was asleep at the time, and was awoken when a gas cylinder exploded.
According to McDonald, as he returned home from work on Wednesday, he observed the thick smoke in the air. He said one of his work colleagues told him that it was his house on fire, and he quickly dismounted from the truck and ran home.
“When I come in I see the fire from the back room, so I try to get a bucket and throw (water), but the (heat) from the fire was too (much) and I couldn’t control the fire, so I had to leave it,” McDonald related.
He explained that it was shortly after that that the gas cylinder exploded, and it added fuel to the fire in the building.
McDonald said he was only told by the children that the fire started in the back bedroom.
“Dem children can’t do nothing because they small, and I have to do my best to see what I can do… When I checking now to see for everybody, me son run up the step and tell me that the baby lef in the house, and I fall down in the drain in front there, because I tell myself that he so small and he gon can’t run out the fire.”
However, the one-year-old was not the only one trapped inside the house. He, along with his three-year-old sister, was rescued. Thankfully, no one was injured.
Playing with fire
Officer in Charge of Operations at the Guyana Fire Service in Berbice, Divisional Fire Officer Clive McDonald, said the fire call was received at about 11:05h on Wednesday, and the GFS responded promptly. By the time they arrived on scene, the building was already flattened. Fire Officer McDonald told this publication that the fire was caused by children who were left unsupervised and were playing with matches.
The family is asking for assistance from the public to get back on their feet. Nine out of the thirteen children attend school.
Several Government Ministers who were in Berbice for the Emancipation celebrations visited the family.
Minister of Social Protection, Amna Ally, invited the family to her office to make further plans to receive assistance. The fire victims have also received donations from Regional officials and neighbours. (Andrew Carmichael)
