Fyrish NDC 10-day worker’s house goes up in flames

A house located in Gibraltar Village, Region Six, was completely destroyed by fire on Thursday night.
The building was owned by 51-year-old Junior Jonas, a government part-time worker attached to the Fyrish-Gibraltar Neighbourhood Democratic Council (NDC).
Jonas occupied the upper flat of the two-storey wooden house at Lot 155, Gibraltar Village, Corentyne, Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne).
The upper flat had two bedrooms. Jonas’s nephew-in-law lived in the lower flat, which also had two bedrooms.

Lotoya Griffith who occupied the lower flat with her husband and three children, said they were in the process of removing to a new building which was constructed on the same property.
According to her, the moving process commenced last week, and she and her children had been sleeping in the new building with her mother. She said that on Thursday night, her mother asked about a fire in the yard.
“My mommy, she sleep late. So, when she probably get up she saw the brightness and asked, ‘Who light fire in the yard this hour?’ When she decide to get up and drink some water, then she see the big blaze over by the tank, and say, ‘Fire!, Fire!’”.
The health centre worker said at the time, her children were asleep.
“I get up and wake them up and we run out. We go to come to the front but the heat was too much. We had to run around the back of the house and go over to the next neighbour. And then people start come to render assistance,” she recalled.

The Rose Town Fire Station was contacted, and firefighters were able to contain the fire from spreading to two other buildings on the premises.
According to Griffith, her husband who was not at home at the time, was still solely occupying the building which was burnt.
“We still had stuff in the house, like chairs, bed, gas bottle, mattress, TV… Like…household thing, every household thing and – my uncle – he had tools.”
She said the house needed repairs so she was moving to the back house to allow her uncle to have full access to the building.
Junior Jonas, her uncle, said he had not been staying at the building at the time, and was at his-mother-in-law’s home for a few days.
At the time of the fire he was on the road a short distance away. He said someone told him about the fire and by the time he got there the firefighters were already in operation.
He said he last visited the premises last week as he was staying with his partner. His house, he said, was fully furnished.
“I glad for assistance to rebuild. I used to cut cane [but] done the cane work because of sickness,” he said.
“I feel bad losing everything to the fire, because things expensive now…” he disclosed.
Earlier this week an another government 10-day part time worker attached to the Fyrish-Gibraltar NDC lost her home to fire.
Jonas can be contacted by telephone numbers 322-0941 or 692-9539 for assistance.