By Cathy Wilson
A Linden family of ten is now homeless after a mid-morning fire completely destroyed their two-flat home yesterday.
Homeless are Joseph and Vashtie Fordyce of 101 2nd Street, Silvertown and their eight children and grandchildren.
Joseph though overwhelmed by emotion told Stabroek News that the fire was spotted around 10:15 am.
The 66-year-old security officer of the Linmine Secretariat said that he was in his bed after returning home earlier in the morning from working a night shift when he was awakened by his wife Vashtie and six-year-old granddaughter Shakira Fordyce and told that smoke was coming from the bottom flat of the building.
“With dat I jump over deh chair and run downstairs but the smoke was so heavy I couldn’t do nothing but tell meh wife fuh call de fire station and rush everybody out of the house,” Joseph said.
According to the elderly man the fire was observed at the front section of the lower flat and they were forced to escape through the back door. He said that an alarm was raised and neighbours rushed to the scene, forming a bucket brigade.
He said that when the front door was broken open the fire was further fuelled by the wind which caused it to quickly sweep through the house.
Vashtie said that shortly before, she and her six-year-old granddaughter were alerted by the strong smell of smoke after she had sent two older granddaughters Crystal Orna, 10, and Althea Solomon, 14, to the shop.
When she peered downstairs she saw the smoke and quickly alerted her husband but it was too late. She said that there was a freezer in the front area of the building where they kept meats.
The area some years ago was used as a shop but it had been closed. According to the woman she and the six-year-old were watching TV upstairs after having breakfast earlier in the morning. She was positive that there were no appliances left on save for the freezer.
In addition, the bottom flat was at the time serving as the storeroom for a large quantity of materials recently purchased by one family member who was constructing her house in Amelia’s Ward.
One of her sons, an employee of BOSAI, said that he had visited his parents’ home the said morning before heading to work. “I does come here every morning and check on my parents and I am sure nothing but dah freezer was on at the time,” the distraught man said.
Several persons on the scene were heard criticizing the fire-fighters. According to residents the fire-fighters arrived on the scene at a stage when they believed that the fire could have been controlled. They explained that after a few minutes of dousing the fire, the tender ran out of water.
“We understand that they only could hold 400 gallons a water but de thing is when deh run out of water they ran deh hose to the river which deh just nearby but for more than an hour they couldn’t get deh water through deh system,” one observer said.
As a result the fire raged through the building and because of the heavy wind was also threatening a neighbour’s house.
With no hope of saving the Fordyces’ home all attention quickly shifted to the neighbour’s house where at one stage heavy smoke was seen emanating from the ceiling.
The occupants were forced to empty their two-flat home bracing for the worse. However after the walls of the Fordyce house caved in the raging flames were contained within the bottom flat’s concrete walls. The neighbour’s house was soaked by a bucket brigade and later by the BOSAI fire truck which arrived on the scene.
Heavy rain followed, putting the fire out completely. Efforts to secure a comment from the fire-fighters to ascertain the cause of the blaze proved futile.
The Fordyce family said that they did not know where they would have slept last night but they were very thankful to neighbours for their response.