Several families were rudely awakened from their early morning slumber on Wednesday, as a fire raged through four houses in Pike Street, Kitty, Georgetown, razing three to the ground and destroyed another. Now scores of persons are homeless and counting millions of dollars in losses.
According to the Police, they received reports of the fire sometime around 04:00h on Wednesday and preliminary investigations have so far revealed that the fire started at around 03:00h in the Lot 185 Pike Street apartment of Oswald Layne. The Police related that the buildings destroyed were located at Lot 185 and 191 Pike Street, explaining that each address had two house lots and one contained a building with seven apartments.
Chief Executive Officer of the Guyana School of Etiquette, Anthony Nestor making a donation to victim Angela Erica Demonik
The report stated that Layne woke up sometime around 03:15h to use the washroom and discovered his apartment filled with smoke. He subsequently raised an alarm as the fire began to engulf the entire wooden structure and subsequently spreading East and West destroying the other buildings.
Fire tenders from Central, Campbellville, Alberttown and Ruimveldt Fire Stations all responded and were able to put out the blaze sometime around 05:00h.
Junior Natural Resources Minister Simona Broomes was one of the first people on the scene and she took the victims to her home where they were offered breakfast, a bath and a change of clothing.
When Guyana Times visited the scene, several investigators from the Fire Service were speaking to the victims amidst the still smouldering rubble.
One couple, Savitri and Hansraj Manbodh related that they were asleep and were awoken by the heat of the fire.
“Around 2:30-3 o’clock I wake up hearing me neighbour hollering fire, fire and when I looked through the window I saw the fire by my neighbours. I wake up my husband and daughter and said let’s get out the house and we get panicked. My daughter picked up the phone first thing and called the fire tender, she didn’t get a good response but I said after we talk to the fire tender let we hustle and get of the house,” Savitri related.
She said that they have been living at Lot 191 Pike Street for the past 10 years and according to their landlord, their house was not insured. She said it is tough to estimate the family’s losses since everything would have been acquired over a period of time.
Raging fire
Meanwhile, 61-year-old Hansraj related that the fire started at their neighbour’s and quickly spread to the other buildings.
“I had my car in the driveway and that was the first thing I had to get out of the yard. But by the time I tried to open the gate and get out the car to park on the road my building had already started catching so I attempted to go in back to retrieve anything I could have got but the furthest I could have reached was the door. Unfortunately that was it, I got some scorches,” he related.
The man said he is of the opinion that the fire may have been electrical in origin, owing to the fact that when his family evacuated their home they observed the wires on the pole sparking.
He added that the building, where the fire started, was poorly wired. He, like many other eyewitnesses and victims, lashed out at the Guyana Fire Service for their poor response.
“The response of the Fire Service was very poor. To start with, the hostile answer that they gave on the phone, they were asking my daughter if she was serious. You should take every call as being serious,” he said.
Hansraj further related that the first fire tender arrived approximately 30 minutes after they first called. When it arrived, it had no water and was unable to source any from the hydrants since they were not operational. The disgruntled man said two other tenders came without water as well.
“One was a brand new one and the fittings were not working, the hose was not working. When the fourth one came and he saw what was happening, he had to go till across GDF (Base Camp Ayanganna), park over there and then they started to send the water through the hoses and that is where the water eventually came,” Hansraj related.
“If they had come with water then they would have been able to contain the fire to one building alone and we all would not have to lose everything we had,” the man said while on the brink of tears.
Nevertheless, he commended the firefighters for their effort. Another victim, Angela Erica Demonik, whose house was partly destroyed, related to Guyana Times that all her children’s school supplies were destroyed in the fire.
She said Minister Broomes has reached out to her family and will be assisting in getting her three children to school amidst the confusion. The woman said she was stunned when she woke up to see her neighbour’s houses on fire.
“I wake up and when I come out on the verandah I see me neighbour house on fire and then the children hear and them run out here. Right now I am just looking to make sure that I can send them to school because we lose everything and I am a single parent so it is hard,” the woman related.
Outreach
Chief Executive Officer of the Guyana School of Etiquette, Anthony Nestor said the organisation has reached out to Minister Broomes and has volunteered one of its houses for the family to occupy until they are able to rebuild. He also presented Demonik with school supplies for her children ages 17, 14 and 10 so that they can attend school as per normal.
“Having spoken to the mother this morning, asking her what is the most important thing at this point in time and she indicate to us that her biggest concern would be that of the education of the children and sending back out to school since one of them has exams this week so we would have indicated to her that we would get those stuff for them to go school,” Nestor said.
The Social Protection Ministry is said to be assessing the situation and will be providing supplies to the victims while a plan is being set in motion to provide alternative living arrangements.
On Mashramani day, approximately 40 persons were rendered homeless when a fire ripped through their apartment complex at Plaisance, East Coast Demerara. An 82-year-old man was also burnt to death in the blaze.
