Early morning fire leaves 7 homeless

A fire early on Thursday morning at Ogle, East Coast Demerara has left seven persons homeless, including three children aged seven, 10 and 17.fire 1

The fire allegedly broke out around 06:30h at Lot 34 Railway Line, Ogle and was spotted by a tenant of the property.

Audrey Wilson, the owner of the property, said: “The fire apparently started in the apartment which we rent to two sisters. One was not at home at the time, while the other was sleeping in the front room. She woke up when she smelt the smoke and rushed downstairs to notify us. My husband then ran over to the building, but the fire was already too big.”

Wilson added that an alarm was raised and neighbours quickly came over to help move household items from the building and contact the Guyana Fire Service.

The fire truck reportedly reached the scene some 15 minutes later, but by that time the entire top floor was completely destroyed.

One neighbour, speaking to this publication, noted that the property also housed Wilo’s Electrical Store, which would have had flammable items and contributed to the blaze.

Wilson’s husband, Birley, broke down in tears explaining that no one was hurt, but the property was uninsured.

The businessman estimated his losses to be in excess of $40 million. He said he had spent his entire life trying to reach where he was in life and was heartbroken to see it go up in flames the way it did.

He mentioned that the two girls living in the apartment were the children of his friends and he always tried to help them out.

“They are nice people and I don’t know how this could have happened. All I hear is she come over and say something wrong, but the place was locked up.”

The father of three is contemplating his next move after seeing his main business destroyed.