Three families are now counting their losses following a mid-afternoon fire, suspected of being electrical in origin, at Canal Number One Polder, West Bank Demerara which completely razed two houses.
According to Marlette Bobb, who was renting the house where the fire started at Lot 3 Bagotville, Canal Number One, West Bank Demerara, her son, Courtney Smith, was at home watching TV around 2 pm yesterday when he observed smoke emanating from a room located at the back of the house on the upper flat. She said he raised an alarm, and neighbours quickly got into motion by forming a bucket brigade.
However the fire was too much, spreading to the neighbouring house, Lot 2 Bagotville, and according to a resident who assisted in removing furniture from another house that was partially scorched, the wind-assisted fire was beyond their control. He said the houses were razed in less than half an hour.
A distraught Bobb told this newspaper that she was at work when she got a phone call that the place she called home for the past two years was on fire. She said a young, newly-wed couple had rented the lower flat of the house. She said the neighbouring house, which was also razed by the fire, was occupied by a young man known as, ‘Kippo,’ who was also at home when the fire started. Except for the clothes she and her children wore yesterday, the woman said, she had lost everything.
June Rodney, whose Cayman Islands-based brother Edward Rodney owned the house Bobb and her three teenage children had been living in, said the house was only recently renovated but she could not give an account of the losses destroyed by the fire. With a disappointed look on her face, Rodney said that the house was not insured and pointed out that the fire service should be commended for being prompt after being informed about the fire. She said the firemen, after realising that they could not save the two houses, concentrated on saving the two dwellings located on either side of the destroyed houses.
Residents in the area told this newspaper yesterday that they were of the opinion that the fire was electrical in origin. According to a resident who lives a few houses away from the two destroyed homes, the area suffered several power outages during the day starting as early as 5 am yesterday. He said he was forced to switch off the main switch at his home since he was of the opinion that the frequent power outages would have damaged his appliances. He said that shortly before the fire, the area had suffered a power outage.
Officials of the Guyana Power and Light (GPL) were at the scene of the fire carrying out inspections yesterday afternoon as the occupants of the two houses contemplated their next move.
