A day after three-year-old Tony Ramlogan succumbed to burn injuries he sustained in a house fire, a second fire broke out and investigators are treating it as suspicious.
A senior fire service official told this newspaper that the second mystery fire at Lot 7 Blossom Scheme, Enmore appeared to be suspicious. The fire broke out in the bottom flat of the Enmore, East Coast Demerara home, where on Tuesday Ramlogan was burnt. He died in hospital a day later.
The official explained that there was nothing in the room that could have started the fire.
It was quick action by residents that saved the two storey building from destruction again. The first fire occurred in a bedroom on the upper flat, which is occupied by the child, his parents, Roschell and Timmy Ramlogan, and an older sister.
The second fire occurred in a bedroom on the lower flat, which is occupied by the child’s uncle, Parsaram Ramlogan.
A resident told Stabroek News that just before 11am she was alerted by screams of “fire, fire”.
She said that when she peeped out, she saw smoke coming from the bottom flat of her neighbour’s house. She said that neighbours formed a bucket brigade and were able to contain the blaze. The only major damage was to a mattress. About half of it was burnt.
Roschell was with relatives making preparations for her son’s burial, which is scheduled for today, when her daughter alerted her to the smoke.
She said that a relative ran to investigate and then alerted them about the fire.
The woman said that while holding her daughter’s hand, she ran to the back of the yard to get water, while calling for help.
She said Parsaram lived alone in the bottom flat and was not at home when the fire started.
Parsaram later said that he left home sometime between 5am and 5:30am, and he stressed that he did not leave anything on. The man said that he last used his stove on Saturday.
In Tuesday’s incident, the fire service official said, the child was found under a clothes horse in the bedroom, where the fire started. He said that no one, including Roschell, who was also in the house, heard any screams from the child when the blaze started.
Recounting the day her son was burnt, Roschell said that she was cooking when she noticed smoke coming from the room. She said when she pushed the door, she saw the fire in the room and thereafter she started hollering. “A had a bowl with water and fish inside and ah fling it on the fire,” she recalled.
She said that it was Parsaram who first responded to her screams but he was unable to enter the bedroom.
The woman noted that the child was asleep in the room when the fire started. She said while she left a fan on in the room, it was placed far away from the bed. Roschell said that the fact that two fires have occurred in two days disturbed her. “I want to know what mek de fire light on the mattress…,” she said, while adding that it is very strange that the second fire also started on a mattress.
Fire officials and the police visited the scene and are conducting investigations into both blazes.
