8 homeless after fire guts La Grange home on New Year’s Day

– blaze started by child playing with lighter – GFS

Eight persons have now been rendered homeless after a fire completely gutted a house they occupied at La Grange, West Bank Demerara (WBD).
According to officials, the fire reportedly started at about 13:45h on Monday, after a chair caught fire while a child left unattended was playing with a lighter at Lot 171 Unity Street, La Grange, WBD.
“The lighter sparked, resulting in naked flames that fell onto the chair; (which) ignited, and (the fire) spread to nearby combustible materials,” the Guyana Fire Service (GFS) has said.

The building was owned by 44-year-old Nigel Douglas, who had occupied the top flat while 34-year-old Keon Gonsalves and his seven-member family had occupied the ground floor.
The Guyana Fire Service (GFS) has said that upon receiving the report of a fire, a water tender and crew from the La Grange Fire Station was immediately dispatched to the location.
The building was situated behind several houses, and was accessible only via a narrow alleyway. The distance from the water tender to the burning building was approximately 250 metres.

Upon arriving at the scene, the firefighters encountered the two-storey wooden-and-concrete structure fully engulfed in flames. Because the roof of the building had already collapsed but no nearby building was threatened by the fire, firefighters opted to establish a continuous water relay system using a light pump and an open water source, instead of using the tank’s supply. Thus, one jet working from an open water source was used to extinguish the fire.
When Guyana Times visited the scene on Tuesday, one of the affected occupants, Erica Lawson, related that at the time of the fire, no one was in the house. She refuted the report presented by the Guyana Fire Service by saying: “Nobody wasn’t at home, because my little brother take everybody out and lock the door…he tell them go to front…when he done move all he niece and nephew, he come back and see the fire…”
She added that the fire had reportedly started in her brother’s bedroom. “If the door de lock, them children couldn’t get in the house…it means that somebody had to throw something into meh brother bedroom through the window!” she insisted.
She was adamant that the fire couldn’t have started from a chair being ignited while a child was playing with a lighter. In addition, she noted that the house did not have electricity.
Citizens are advised to exercise caution, and follow safety measures to avoid home fires. These include: not leaving children unattended, or at home without adult supervision; educating children on the dangers of fire starters, and warning them about their use or misuse; keeping children away from the cooking area, and ensuring that matches and lighters are out of their reach at all times; and, more importantly, equipping homes with fire alarms, smoke detectors and fire extinguishers, as these appliances would aid in alerting people to a fire, and in putting out a fire quickly.