Single mothers, children homeless as fire guts Linden home

A Sunday afternoon fire has completed gutted the home of two female security officers in the mining town of Linden, Region 10 (Upper Demerara-Berbice), leaving 11 persons to make alternative living arrangements.
The fire reportedly started in one of the rooms in the Lot 146 Dageraad Avenue, Mackenzie, Linden home and quickly razed through the flat wooden and concrete building.

The interior of the house after the blaze

At the time of the fire, both women who lived in separate apartments were at work, but their children were at home.
The two women, Latoya and Shellon Kato who are cousins, recalled receiving news of the fire from their children who claimed that the fire started in one of the back bedrooms which was locked.
According to information received, the children reportedly heard a loud explosion in the room prior to the house going up in flames. As a result of the rapid spread of the fire, nothing was salvaged from the burning building.
The children, however, managed to escape from the burning house without injuries. Fire tenders from the Linden Fire Station, located a short distance away, managed to contain the blaze.

The fire moments after it broke out

The women related that it was the second time the family home had gone up in flames, noting that the first time was about 20 years ago.
Latoya had lived at the now-destroyed home for the past 16 years. Other family members were also occupying the home prior to the fire.
The women, clearly traumatised, appeared on the scene sometime after the Fire Service managed to extinguish the blaze. They were both inconsolable.
“All me freezer, everything burn up… She lost a lot; I lost a lot. Everything burned, the beds, everything,” Latoya related in tears. An investigation has been launched into cause of the inferno.