Some 20 persons were last evening counting their losses after a fire of unknown origin gutted their one-flat, two-bedroom concrete home at Lot 663, Mandela Avenue, East Ruimveldt yesterday afternoon.
Vanessa Braithwaite, whose mother Esmay Braithwaite owns the house, told this newspaper at the scene yesterday that she was at work at the East Ruimveldt Secondary School around 2:45 when someone informed her that her home was on fire. She said when she arrived at the scene the house which does not receive electricity was in flames, noting that it was impossible at the time to save anything.
She said neighbours related that someone saw smoke emanating from the back of the house but by the time the fire service responded, the entire house was engulfed. The woman said that she was at home around lunchtime yesterday and left there around 1 pm for work. She said the entire ordeal came as a shock as no one was in the house at the time of the fire and according to her, the family would have a difficult time finding alternative places to stay for the next few nights.
When Stabroek News arrived at the scene, officers of the fire service were dousing the gutted house. Several children who live at the location began to arrive home from school to be greeted by their weeping relatives while neighbours and passers-by offered words of comfort.
The occupants of the house could not estimate their losses yesterday but Braithwaite noted that all her belongings and those of her three children were consumed by the fire. Two other families live at the house.