It was approaching 8 pm and Dr. Lindon Winfield, a dentist attached to the Upper Demerara Hospital, and his wife Colleen had just finished tending to their meat birds and were about to retire for the night when their 14-year-old son shouted that there was a fire.
Seated directly opposite his house, which was engulfed in flames, on a sofa he managed to save, Winfield told Stabroek News last night that he promptly responded to his eldest son and went to investigate. On approaching the children’s bedroom he noticed one of the mattresses on the floor. “We tried to throw water and do every possible thing to out the fire but it just didn’t work.” The distraught man, realizing that the fire was quickly catching on to other things in the bedroom, attempted to drag the mattress out of the room but was forced to abandon this effort. His right hand was burnt in the process.
The entire Winfield family was at home at the time and realizing that the fire had become uncontrollable, he, his wife Coleen and their 14, 8 and 4 year old sons evacuated the building, sounding an alarm in the process. Every-one escaped without major injury.
Neighbours summoned the fire service while others quickly ran to the scene forming a bucket brigade in an attempt to put the fire out. With the help of hundreds the family managed to save their two cars which were parked in the garage and some household effects from the bottom flat of the house.
Pandemonium broke out when the fire tender arrived on the scene without sufficient water. They had to return to central Mackenzie to refill, a process they had to repeat several times before containing the fire. The bauxite company BOSAI sent a water truck and a crew to aid the fire fighting effort. It took more than two hours before the huge blaze was controlled.
However it was the effort of the residents’ bucket brigade that prevented the fire from catching on to the house of a popular businessman called ‘Fines.’ `Fines’s’ house was scorched in some parts.
Residents said that the ailing water supply system at Amelia’s Ward was a major contributor to the incapacitation of the fire fighters. “This rationing of water we experiencing hay mek dis man house bun down. Is water from we water tanks we had to use and u know dah was nothing.” They said that there were two water hydrants in close proximity to the fire but they could not be accessed since there was no water in the area at the time.
Asked about the extent of his losses Dr. Winfield said, “millions, millions, everything you could think of for a home I had, millions …. Everything gone, everything”, as he broke down into tears.
The house situated at 156 Amelia’s Ward was built in 2001.
