Fire destroys Angoy’s Avenue house, arson suspected

A fire of unknown origin on Thursday evening destroyed a two-storey house at Angoy’s Avenue, New Amsterdam, leaving a family of seven homeless.

The fire was first seen sometime after 23:00h on Wednesday. At the time of the fire, the house did not have any electricity and the occupants were not at the house. They had reportedly left the home about a week ago.
A relative, Clebert Benjamin, told Guyana Times that he was awakened and given the news of the fire. As he rushed to the scene, he saw a unit from the Guyana Fire Service in New Amsterdam putting out the blaze.
He explained that the firefighters initially had difficulty accessing water from a dried-out trench and had to resort to a canal one street away.
However, he noted that by the time they were able to access water, the building was already flattened.
“They come without water so by the time they get water it was too late,” he said. Some reports suggested that a window was seen open at the side of the building and it is believed that the fire might have been deliberately set.
An investigation has been launched into the origin of the fire.