A fire suspected to be electrical in origin has completely destroyed a section of terraced houses in East Ruimveldt, leaving one family homeless and another forced to return to the ruins.
At around 14:30h on Thursday, the upper flat of one of the homes situated on Trench Road, East Ruimveldt, Georgetown went up in flames, resulting in it being gutted while the adjoining apartment suffered damage.
The section of terraced homes affected by fire
A woman and her son are now homeless, while the family of seven residing in the now damaged home has no choice but to continue dwelling in the ruins.
Speaking to Guyana Times at the scene of the incident was Yannick Grimes, a local bodybuilder, who explained what transpired.
“Like around 2:30this afternoon, my mom was in front standing…then she start shouting, ‘Fire! Fire! Fire’!” Grimes relayed.
He noted, “When I proceeded to the house, I saw smoke coming from the roof. I ran to the door and kicked it down and actually saw the flames upstairs.”
He went on to say that even though they attempted to save the building, the thick smoke prevent them from going any further into the building.
However, Grimes revealed, “We actually saw a fan on the floor. Probably that’s what caused the fire, cause the fan had flames.”
Also speaking to this newscast was the owner of the damaged residence, Andrew Forde, a pump attendant attached to the Georgetown Mayor and City Council.
“Well, I was sleep, and my son wake me up and tell me, ‘Fire! Fire in the neighbour house!’ and me and my neighbour went over and kick down the door and start doing bucket brigade and try to control the fire till the fire reel come,” the man told media operatives.
Forde then indicated that it was the efforts of the community and prompt response from the Guyana Fire Service which aided in the aversion of what could have been massive disaster.
“If they didn’t come, this whole place would’ve burn down, cause it start spreading in the two other buildings next door.” The affected man expressed his distress in that even though his home was not entirely damaged, his family has still suffered a great loss following the fire, which started from the adjoining building.
“Well, the fire affected me, cause everything soak. Everything inside soak; we gotta clean from top to bottom,” Grimes stated.
The pump attendant noted, “We ain’t got nowhere else to sleep; we got to sleep right there. We got to try to clean it out, bail out the water and make we-self comfortable, cause we got nowhere else to go.”
Meanwhile, this newspaper was unable to speak to the owner of the completely destroyed home, as the woman said she was still in a state of dismay over her loss.
However, based on reports received, the woman was identified as Cynthia Johnson, who shared the home with one of her sons, Percival Johnson. Unfortunately, neither of the two was at home at the time of the fire.
The Guyana Fire Service was present to extinguish the fire, and as such, an investigation has been launched.
