A fire on Monday, which gutted two structures at D’Andrade Street, Kitty, Georgetown, has left 15 people homeless.
The house which was flattened at D’Andrade Street, Kitty, Georgetown
Based on information received, the fire started sometime after 09:30h at the Lot 149 D’Andrade Street, Newton, Kitty property. It quickly wrecked the one-storey wooden structure before spreading to an attached dwelling place of another relative.
When Guyana Times arrived at the scene, Annette Heywood explained that she is employed as a security guard and had just returned from a night shift at about 09:00h.
After making breakfast, the woman said she retired to bed and was awakened by screams from one of her eight children that a fire had started.
“I come home and I made my children breakfast. I go in my bed and I sleeping and all I hear is that my daughter hollering fire. By time I jump up, the whole house was on fire so I couldn’t see. It was two houses in the yard. She lost everything too,” Heywood told this newspaper.
Confused, the 38-year-old woman said she scrambled to run out of the building, leaving everything behind. By the time her family reached to safety, the entire two-bedroom structure was swallowed by thick smoke. An adjacent structure, occupied by one of her daughters, was also destroyed.
“I just come out the house and leave everything to burn. I didn’t get to save money, clothes, nothing…Everything that a house could have, I lost everything. I was panicking so I just run out the house,” she said.
The Guyana Fire Service arrived at the said location shortly after and attempted to put out the fire but it was too late. Nothing was salvaged and the family’s dwellings was flattened to the ground.
Until about 11:30h, the woman and her children remained amid the ruined remnants of their home. Neighbours accompanied them to sift through the burnt remains for salvageable items.
Heywood told this publication that she lost all the furniture and other articles that a house would have. At that time, the distraught woman was contemplating her next move and a new place to reside.
“I lost my furniture, my bed, my children’s bed, the wardrobe, fridge, TV set, gas stove…everything. Everything happened so fast,” the distraught woman relayed.
The family could not say what started the fire. However, reports are that a kerosene stove exploded, resulting in the disaster.
The Fire Service has since launched an investigation to the origin of the fire among other aspects.
