“I started to scream, I started to cry” – woman tells of escape from burning house

A 55-year-old woman fled her home at Lot 1 Edinburgh, East Bank Berbice (EBB), on Monday morning after waking to noise outside and discovering smoke pouring into the upper flat of the two-storey building. Zalima Ally was alone upstairs in her home when the fire broke out in the lower flat of the building, which was occupied by another woman who was away at the time. Within minutes, what Ally initially thought might have been someone burning garbage nearby developed into a major fire, sending thick smoke through the building and leaving her with little time to escape. The New Amsterdam Fire Service responded with two units and managed to contain the blaze to the building. Ally recalled that before becoming aware of the fire, she had detected a slight burning smell but did not initially consider it unusual.

“I did smell a little like a burn. It’s probably somebody throwing garbage or whatever, but I didn’t contact anything. I didn’t really realise I’m thinking that something happening downstairs,” she related. She subsequently returned to bed, but sometime later began hearing people outside making noise. By the time she got up, smoke had already begun entering the upper flat. Ally said her first reaction was to determine whether something inside her apartment was burning. “…but before I could have come out of the bed, I see smoke start coming,” she recalled. She rushed to the kitchen but found nothing there that could account for the smoke. It was then that she realised the problem was downstairs.
With smoke rapidly filling the upper flat, Ally returned to the bedroom, hurriedly put on clothing and made her way out of the house. By then, she said, flames had begun spreading heavily through the lower section of the building. Outside, neighbours were already raising an alarm and attempting to assist.
She said the situation unfolded so rapidly that there was little opportunity to think about saving anything from the four-bedroom upper flat she shared with the building’s owner, Affis Ali.

“Everything happened so fast, like, I really couldn’t grab anything,” she said, adding, “to be honest, like, I started, like, I get, I don’t know, I get so weak. I started to scream, I started to cry, I started to pick up, I tried to grab the phone to start making calls, but, like, I don’t know what happened.” Ally nevertheless attempted to return upstairs for the keys to a vehicle that was parked near the burning house. Concerned that she could become trapped, neighbours prevented her from re-entering. Unable to retrieve the keys, residents instead pulled the vehicle away from the burning building. Residents also reportedly attempted to tackle the fire during its early stages but said their efforts to gain access to the lower flat were hampered by heavy metal grills fitted to the windows.
The New Amsterdam Fire Service subsequently arrived with two fire tenders and brought the blaze under control. The cause of the blaze was not immediately known. Although the upper flat was not where the fire reportedly originated, the heat, flames and smoke caused damage. Ally described the four-bedroom upper flat as a well-furnished home and said clothing, documents, cash and numerous other possessions were among the losses.
She said Monday’s fire was an experience unlike anything she had encountered before. Persons wishing to make contact with Ally to offer assistance can do so on (592) 621-8408.