A bucket brigade formed by alert neighbours averted a major tragedy on Thursday morning, as fire ravaged a home and adjoining mechanic shop in Tucville, Georgetown.
A glimpse of the aftermath of the fire on Thursday morning
The victim, Deon Richards, was only able to save his toddler son, before the fire engulfed the wooden structure, reducing it to ashes in the space of half an hour.
According to reports at the scene, Richards was awakened about 08:00h on Thursday by the smell of smoke. When he investigated, he reportedly found the living room on fire.
A grief-stricken Deon Richards, being consoled by a member of the Guyana Fire Service
In a state of shock, the mechanic, who is attached to the Guyana Defence Force (GDF), rushed to save his two-year-old son while he raised the alarm. His neighbours then formed a bucket brigade in the hope of quelling the blaze.
Though the neighbourly effort was enough to contain the blaze to the single lot, the mechanic was unable to save anything from the burning building, as the fire quickly engulfed the wooden structure and mechanic shop.
Richards was too overwhelmed with the grief of losing his home and source of livelihood to speak to the media, but his neighbour Alwyn Vanderstoop related what he knew of the devastating fire.
“After drinking some tea, next thing I know this man come and throw he son at me and said ‘fire’. By the time he make so to go and throw the bucket of water, there was bottle blowing up and the fire just keep exhausting more and more and more,” Vanderstoop said.
He further stated: “We couldn’t do nothing else, but keep throwing water til the fire engine come and that was it.”
“It appears like he was sleeping, he and he son, but like when he feel the heat, he just jump up and pick up he son and run outside,” the neighbour speculated.
Speaking about the damage done to his own home, which is situated to the left of the burnt house, Vanderstoop stated, “It just scorch and the windows break up, the blaze just damage up the ceiling and them thing. Nothing much to talk though, ‘cause it coulda be worse if them boys didn’t come and help me with the water and thing from the gutter. Could be worse, God is good still.”
Guyana Fire Service’s Divisional Officer in Charge of Operations, Haimchandra Persaud was at the scene and related that the Fire Service received a report of the fire at 08:57h. The fire tenders reportedly arrived at about 09:05h.
With three trucks, the firefighters got into action, but nothing much could have been done to save the building. Persaud commended members of the community for their swift action.
“With regards to these enclosed areas, there’s a challenge as it relates to fire spread, quick fire spread, but as you can see there’s good neighbourly support. They have helped and I want to compliment them for that,” Persaud said.
The Divisional Officer added, “You can see the building to the east was slightly scorched, but they would’ve prevented a spread. To the other end, West, because of a zinc fence, you can see the radiated heat did not do much damage to the other building, but they’re in close proximity.”
Working with the theory that a gas bottle might have exploded causing the fire, Persaud cautioned citizens to exercise better fire prevention measures.
“I want to advise the general public also, let’s practise some level of caution and fire safety. People need to be careful, because from the words I’ve heard here, sounds of explosion means you had gas in proximity. So, we need to store these things in safe manner, we need to be careful, so that these occurrences can be curtailed.
“Nevertheless, we are there to support the public, to render that assistance whenever needed. We’ve come on scene and we’ve done our task and I just want to thank the ranks who worked; we’ve worked relentlessly since one o’clock this morning,” the Divisional Officer declared.
Richards is said to have suffered severe losses in the fire, including several vehicles that belonged to customers on which he was working in his shop.
