Two families of Lots 6 and 7 Lamaha Park Reserve in Georgetown are now homeless after a devastating fire destroyed their homes on Wednesday morning.
The blaze, which reportedly began at around 02:30h, is suspected to have been deliberately set by a young woman who had been living at the property. In total, 11 people, including two children and an elderly woman, have been displaced.
When Guyana Times arrived at the scene on Wednesday afternoon, a neighbour, Ms Otoley Whyte, confirmed that one of the affected homes had contained several apartments, and the suspect had been residing in the front unit.
According to Whyte, the incident started at around 01:10h, when the young woman accused the son of another resident of stealing her phone. She claimed the boy had borrowed the phone to make a call, but had ridden off on his bike and had failed to return the instrument.
The injuries Kassa Hodge sustained as a result of the fire
When the young woman confronted the boy in the presence of his father, the boy denied the accusation and an argument erupted, during which the woman threatened to burn down the house if her phone was not returned to her.
“I was sleeping, and I jumped out of my sleep with this young lady rowing about her phone,” Whyte recalled. “She came and she was crying and pelting the house, saying the man’s son borrowed her phone and rode away with it. She even said she would burn down the house,” Whyte disclosed.
Whyte said she urged the woman to report the matter to the police, but the woman refused, citing a previous altercation involving her girlfriend.
“She told me that she had a matter at the station because she brick down her girlfriend’s house…and hit the girl’s daughter in the head. She didn’t want to go to the police station,” Whyte explained.
Eventually, Whyte was able to calm the woman down, and she had gone back inside the house.
”Fire! Fire!”
Less than an hour later, Whyte said, she heard screams.
“I heard them hitting the house shouting, ‘Fire! Fire!’ and I jumped up and pulled my blind. I saw flames coming through her apartment. This is just after she told us (that) if she didn’t get back her phone, she would burn down the house with the boy’s father inside,” Whyte explained.
Eyewitnesses reported seeing the woman walking away from the scene.
“A young man said he saw the girl walking up the road, and when he asked where she was going, she said, ‘On the road.’ She even asked him if he saw any fire,” Whyte added.
The woman had also allegedly handed over important documents to another neighbour, to whom she had confessed that she had burned down the house.
Despite the boy’s denial that he had stolen the phone, several people confirmed that the young man had indeed used the woman’s phone earlier that day.
“His girlfriend said he called her six times with the girl’s number,” Whyte said.
Injuries
Meanwhile, Kassa Hodge, a resident of Lot 6, sustained burns while attempting to save his home. He managed to escape the fire, but suffered injuries to his legs, arms, and abdomen.
“I was in my bed and heard an argument over a phone, then went back to sleep,” Hodge said. “Shortly after, I heard people shouting, ‘Throw water! Throw water!’ When I looked, I saw flames coming from the side of the next house. I picked up a bucket and started throwing water, but it wasn’t doing anything. I had no chance to save anything,” he disclosed.
Hodge, who had shared the home with his brother, a mechanic, has said they suffered losses amounting to millions.
“My brother had a lot of bikes in the yard. We had seven or eight battery bikes, and all burned up. I was trying to save the house when I saw a gas bottle blow up. I barely made it out like a movie. Same time, all the wires were bursting,” he explained.
Hodge described the toll the fire has taken on his family: “I am in physical and mental pain. All our documents, all the children’s school things, burn up. We just want to get back on our feet, because we have children to get back to school. This is really sad and cruel.”
The suspect remained on the run as of Wednesday evening, but an investigation has been launched.
