The aftermath of the house after it was destroyed by the fire
A family of three from Mon Repos, East Coast Demerara (ECD), is now homeless after a fire of unknown origin destroyed their home in the wee hours of Saturday. The fire was reportedly spotted at about 1:00h.
The owner of the property, 58-year-old Haemattie Mangal, who is a widow and a mother of 10, told media operatives on Saturday that she had been occupying the house for the past 30 years.
She explained that she resided in the house with two of her sons. However, on Friday evening, one of the boys went to work and as such, she along with the other son went to her daughter’s house to spend the night.
While there, Mangal recalled receiving several calls from her neighbours, who informed her that her house was on fire.
“We was sleeping and the land phone ring and people start telling me to come to the house because the house on fire. Me go, and when me reach me see Police and a fire truck at the house and the house was on fire,” she explained.
The woman said she was unable to save any of her valuables.
“Right now, we are homeless… we have nowhere to turn, and nowhere to go, nowhere to lie down and sleep, we don’t even have a bed…everything we had burned up in this house. We need help… somewhere for us [to go]. We will now have to sleep on the road because we have nowhere to go,” the tearful woman said.
“I have nothing and I am a widow. I am not strong and I work with my sister sometimes in Bourda Market and I get some but that can’t really do anything… we don’t even have anything to eat… we lose everything,” she said.
An investigation to determine the origin of the fire has been launched.
Only a day ago, a family of five became homeless after a fire of unknown origin completely destroyed their home at Itaballi Landing in the Lower Mazaruni River, Region Seven (Cuyuni-Mazaruni).
Only recently, Fire Chief Gregory Wickham stated that the Guyana Fire Service responded to a total of 1347 fires for the year thus far. This, he noted, is almost double last year’s figure, when 771 fires were experienced over the same period.
He added that 42 persons have perished due to fire, including the 20 children who died in the Mahdia blaze. Wickham stated that based on investigation, fire officials have concluded that most of the fires for 2023 were maliciously set while some other causes include negligence and electrical issues.
