Fires destroy Mainstay home, spare parts bond at Annandale
Two separate fires have wreaked havoc at Mainstay on the Essequibo Coast and at Annandale on the East Coast of Demerara (ECD).
In both instances, the cause of the fire remains unknown, and the affected persons are left counting significant losses.
The house at Mainstay on fire
The first fire started just after midnight at White Boy’s Auto Spares & Accessories, a business place located at Lots 446-447 Annandale, East Coast Demerara. The Fire Service in a release said it was alerted about the fire, and immediately dispatched water tenders from Melanie, Campbellville, and Alberttown Fire Stations to the scene.
The structure involved was a two-storey concrete building owned by 42-year-old Mohammed Alli and occupied as a bond. That fire completely destroyed the building and its contents. The purported cause of the fire is unknown at this time, but the Fire Service is conducting investigations.
At Mainstay village on the Essequibo Coast in Region Two, a fire that started at about 9:50h on Tuesday has left seven persons homeless.
When contacted, owner of the house, 44-year-old Shervin De Jonge, told Guyana Times he had been living at the house with his wife and five children for over a decade. He explained that he was at work on Tuesday morning when he received a call that his house was on fire.
Fire officials at the scene of the fire
“My wife and three of our children out of the five were at home. From eyewitnesses, they said that the fire started from the GPL pole, and then it caught from the western side, which is the front of the house where the GPL power was connected”, the man explained.
De Jonge said that when he arrived on scene, his house was fully engulfed in flames, but his family had already safely exited the building. He explained that he had no issue with his electricity, and that his house was only recently connected to the GPL power grid.
The aftermath of the fire that destroyed the business place at Annandale, ECD
“I wasn’t able to save anything! I lost everything, and though I will have somewhere to stay, I need to try and figure out everything. This is just sad…,” he declared.
The Guyana Fire Service was summoned to the scene, but by the time the fire was extinguished, the building was completely destroyed, as were all household appliances and belongings.
It has been revealed that the building was built by ‘Food for the Poor’ for the family approximately 13 years ago.
