Three persons – a 70-year-old man, his 41-year-old daughter and 40-year-old son-in-law – have been left homeless, after a massive fire destroyed their Third Street Montrose, East Coast Demerara (ECD) home early Saturday morning.
Reports are the fire started at about 01:40h, leaving the displaced family of three counting millions of dollars in losses.
Flames engulfing the house on Saturday morning
When Guyana Times visited the scene on Saturday, only the frame of the house was left standing.
None of the three occupants were there, however, another daughter of the 70-year-old pensioner, who lives nearby, Asha Ojha told this publication it was her father who suspected something was amiss in the house when he smelled smoke.
“My dad was out playing some games and he started to smell smoke. And when they went to investigate, one of them went upstairs and when they opened the door, there was a fire coming out. So, at that point they could not have gotten into the upstairs. So, they ran back downstairs, and all they were able to do was get the two cars out the yard.”
What remains of the Montrose, ECD house
The woman said that the upper flat of the two-storey wooden and concrete building was not occupied by anyone. She said the dwelling was done downstairs.
As the fire began spreading rapidly through the house, the family, with the help of neighbours, formed a bucket brigade, but their efforts were unsuccessful.
Ojha was unable to say what might have started the fire but said her family was unable to save anything.
“The neighbour told us; he was the first person that reached upstairs. He said he saw it coming out of the ceiling. But as I said when they opened the door. It was coming through the door. At this point in time, it’s really difficult how much we lost because the furnishings were equivalent to two households. And it’s a big house.”
When asked how the family is coping with the loss of their home, Ojha said the family is devastated.
“Right now, my sister is very traumatised, she’s the one that was there, and my brother-in-law is even more so…so, we’re trying to deal with that and to calm them before we are able to see, how to move on,” she said.
She said that family and friends have offered tremendous support to them since the incident.
“A lot of friends have been coming and pouring in support and helping with clothing and so because they were not able to save anything at all… at this point we don’t want to ask for public assistance, because we don’t want to put the public under pressure …everybody has their own issues,” the woman related.
An investigation has been launched to determine the cause of the fire. (G9)
