Fire guts Essequibo Coast house

… pensioner, son homeless

A 69-year-old pensioner and her son have been left homeless after their Essequibo Coast, Region Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam) house was destroyed by fire on Sunday.
Reports are that the fire gutted the Lot 29 Backstreet, Johanna Cecilia, Essequibo Coast house owned by Gale Dowding, who lived there with her 47-year-old son, Carlos Dowding. Reports indicate that at about 13:00h on Sunday, Carlos Dowding left the home for the Suddie Seawall and his mother remained at the residence and later lit two wall lamps around 17:45h, one in the hallway and another in the kitchen, before sitting on the eastern steps of the house.

According to information received, the one-storey wooden two-bedroom house was not connected to the Guyana Power and Light (GPL) at the time of the fire.
She later observed smoke coming from inside the building and upon investigating, she saw fire on the kitchen wall and attempted to extinguish it using a bucket of water. However, the flames spread rapidly.
The woman raised an alarm, and the Guyana Fire Service (GFS) was alerted and managed to extinguish the blaze. By that time however, the house and its contents were completely destroyed. No injuries were reported.