A fire has now left three Lindeners homeless after it gutted their three-bedroom wooden/concrete home situated at Dakama Circle, Mackenzie, Linden.
Fire broke out at the Lot 169 Dakama Circle, Linden home where Samuel Garraway, his reputed wife Keisha Luke, and her nephew reside, at about 22:30h on Friday evening.
The house in flames on Friday evening
The lower flat of the building was used to conduct after school lessons.
Garraway told this publication that he returned from Georgetown about an hour before the fire started, but fell asleep in a chair in the living room while watching television.
He said he was waiting for his wife Keisha, a teacher of the New Silvercity Secondary School in Linden, to return.
According to the man, he was awakened by the smell of smoke which was suffocating him.
“Smoke wake me up actually. When the smoke wake me up, I was lost in the house because the lights was off. So, I was feeling to see if I could come out the house because I can’t get to breathe. So I go and I feel the door and I put my hand on the lock and I open…When I came out now I try to take off the main switch but the main switch was hot so I loose it,” Garraway recalled.
He added that he then ran downstairs to seek help and went back up with the hopes of saving household items but was unsuccessful since the fire had already spread.
Garraway said he believes the fire was electrical in nature.
“When I look at the thing, to me it look like an electrical fire because when I apply to take off the main switch, it was hot. I had to loose cause the main switch was already on fire,” he said.
Meanwhile, Luke said she was on her way home when the fire broke out. By the time firefighters from the Linden Fire Station arrived, the house was already engulfed in flames. The family was unable to save anything and has estimated their losses in the millions. Garraway, who is a construction worker, said there were lots of electrical tools, household appliances and documents, which were burnt in the fire, in addition to three television sets, two living room sets and other household appliances. Luke’s nephew, who is currently a CSEC student, also lost everything, including his books and assignments.
When this publication visited on Saturday the family were in the yard contemplating their next move.
Garraway, who noted that he was thankful for life, said the house now has to be rebuilt. Luke noted that she is now unable to attend school since all of her clothing and belongings were lost in the fire. “We ain’t got no clothes, everything destroy. Right now we ain’t get nothing left. It’s tough. It’s a hard situation,” Garraway said. (Utamu Belle)
