9 homeless after Albouystown blaze

A Thursday mid-afternoon fire at Albouys Street in Albouystown, Georgetown has destroyed a two-storey wooden building and left nine persons homeless. The fire reportedly started at about 15:00h, but within minutes, the structure was completely engulfed.

An elderly occupant of the house has said that the fire started in the upper flat of the house and made its way to the bottom flat in a short space of time. According to the man, he was asleep when he heard a neighbour screaming out his name. By the time he got up, he realized the fire was in the kitchen area of the house, and was already spreading.
“I think I probably had on the stove, but I can’t remember. All I remember is that I heard the neighbour calling my name, and when I woke up, I saw the kitchen was on fire,” he explained.

Luckily, he declared, other members of the household were in the downstairs part of the house, and they had enough time to leave the house unharmed.
Meanwhile, he related that during his bid to retrieve items from the house, he was unable to save his two beloved pet rabbits.
“I was so confused when the fire was going on, I didn’t even get to save my two big rabbits. All I got to save was a mattress and a guitar,” he sadly told Guyana Times, while adding that he was unable to run inside the house to retrieve the rabbits as the smoke was already billowing.
Besides being unable to quantify his losses, the elderly man revealed that his losses include two big TVs (a Panasonic and a Sony), his mobile phone, and some cash that he had saved up.
Investigations are underway by Fire Service officials to ascertain the cause of the fire.