An unoccupied one bedroom wooden building situated close to the home of popular Attorney-at-law Mursalene Bacchus at the eastern end of the Canje Bridge in Region 6 (East Berbice- Corentyne) went up in flames shortly after 13:30h on Wednesday, but swift response from the residents of Sheet Anchor prevented the fire from spreading to other buildings.
Seidel Bepa, who operates a vegetable stall a few houses away from the fire-ravaged building, told the Guyana Times that her mother reported smelling smoke
The wooden cottage which was destroyed by the blaze
and the two ventured into the street to investigate. “By the time I come out the hammock I see the fire above the house, so I did not hesitate; and I run by Mr. Bacchus and call for his wife, ‘Aunty Pam! Aunty Pam! Fire! Cuffy dem house on fire! Call the Fire Service!’ “
The woman related that she then went into the Bacchus yard and removed sheets which were hung under the house. “The fire was big and I say it gon ketch by the time she come down. The Fire Service take a time to come, but dem boys really fight down the fire – the Sheet Anchor boys dem; they start throwing water, so the fire din get to raise higher than that,” Bepa said.
Two units from the New Amsterdam Fire Service responded, along with a unit from the Rose Hall Sugar Estate. Damages to Bacchus’s house were limited to two windows, but sections of the building were also scorched.
Moments after the blaze, members of the Guyana Power and Light were seen replacing damaged wires to the Bacchus home. This publication understands that one of the residents of the destroyed house was recently released from a juvenile correctional facility. It is not clear who owns that building, but several members of a family residing both local and overseas claim ownership.
