Millions of dollars have been lost after a two-storey house at Sarah Johanna, East Bank Demerara (EBD), went up in flames on Saturday morning, leaving officials to probe a possible arson.
The aftermath of the fire
The fire reportedly started just after midnight at the Lot 11-14 Sarah Johanna property – which was vacant at the time.
Owner of the property, Mala Narine had closed her business, located adjacent to the now destroyed structure, and retired to bed at 22:00h. After flames were seen towering from the second flat of the house, passers-by immediately stopped and called out for the family.
By then, neighours were also alerted as to what was transpiring. As the flames spread, public-spirited individual aided to remove a vehicle from the yard and called the Guyana Fire Service.
Fire victim Mala Narine
“I was sleeping over here. We locked up the shop and went to bed. At about 12 o’clock, a bus stopped and hollered at the gate ‘Fire! Fire!’. We neighbour over there and other people wake us up and said the house was on fire so now when we come out, a boy help me bring out the car because we didn’t want the fire to spread,” Narine told Guyana Times.
According to the woman, tenders from the Timehri Fire Station arrived within 10 minutes and spent until 02:00h dousing the flames. Due to the quick response, she noted that the fire was contained, saving her from further calamity.
“In 10 minutes, they reached here. Or else, more things would have burned. To me, they did well from the time they got the call…If they didn’t, then over here would have catch afire and more things would have burned down. “
The internal structure of the concrete building suffered severe damages, destroying all valuables. While no one resided in the house, she noted that millions were invested recently.
She added “The house, we does just go over in the day and night time, we lock it up and come over here. Every single thing [was damaged] – all the furniture, clothes, all burned up. It was millions of dollars. Every year, I put in things. Up to last Christmas, I put over a million dollars in furniture in the house.”
Narine alleged that a male whom she shared a relationship with had threatened to destroy her house. On the night of the fire, a male was seen exiting the yard shortly before the fire started, raising suspicion of a suspected arson.
“I had a [restraining order] against him and in November, he had jumped into the house and burned down my blinds…He keep telling them that he would destroy my house and this property too.”
The Guyana Fire Service is investigating. (G12)
