A fire believed to have been set by a mentally-unstable man gutted an empty house on George Street, Georgetown yesterday.
The fire, reportedly set some time before 4pm, gutted the old house, which had been unoccupied for many years. Quick response from the fire service, residents told Stabroek News, prevented the flames from completely destroying the structure.
At around 4.30pm, firemen were present and could be seen examining the gutted structure. A resident, who asked not to be named, explained that a number of homeless persons usually frequented the house. From time to time, the resident explained, a man of “unsound mind” would sleep there. “Just the other day [he] been trying to burn some papers in the house and some boys had to chase he out,” the resident said.
The house is located on George Street, between Norton and Princes streets, behind another empty building which once housed a lodge. Residents occupy homes on either side of the abandoned buildings. “Is only them people who live next door get lil water in they place when the fire people spray the old house…but if that house de continue burning it coulda make the other places catch because they close together,” one resident explained.
