3 homeless after Essequibo fire

Three persons from Henrietta Housing Scheme, Region Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam) are now homeless after a fire completely destroyed the upper flat of their two-storied home at around 14:30h Friday afternoon.
Sahodra Sukhai, 69, who lives with her daughter-in-law and two grandchildren, ages nine and ten, was home alone at the time of the

incident. She however managed to escape unhurt.
Upon seeing the flames, neighbours immediately contacted the Anna Regina Fire Station and fire fighters promptly arrived at the scene.
According to the widow, she was downstairs when she heard neighbours shouting, notifying her of the fire and calling for her to leave her house. Sukhai said she immediately exited to save her life.
She was unable to put an estimate to the damages, however, she explained that everything in the upper flat have been completely destroyed. At the time, a private contractor was doing grille work on the building.
Eyewitnesses who spoke with this newspaper related that they saw huge flames coming from the upper widow. They immediately began screaming for her to vacate and subsequently made a report.
“I saw huge flames, it was spreading very fast we were worried about Sukhai so we immediately started to call, shout and scream for her to run out, then we made a report”, an eyewitness related.
According to information, five fire fighters successfully extinguished the fire which had also spread to the lower flat.
Head of the Fire Station, Clive Mc Donald, confirmed that fire tenders were immediately dispatched to the scene and they brought the fire under control.
While investigations are still ongoing, it is believed the fire originated from a ‘welding spark’ from the co ntractor’s equipment.
Statements were taken from the contractor who was welding at the time of the incident.