An elderly man lost his home after a fire of unknown origin completely gutted it while he was out late yesterday afternoon.
Maurice Marshall, 72, was the lone occupant of the double flat house at 59 Ariwa Oval Retrieve, Mackenzie. According to neighbour D’Nell Boyce, he had just arrived home when he noticed fire coming from one of two apartments in the bottom flat of the house. “I saw the fire in the bottom room and immediately summoned the fire station and they responded promptly but the blaze had caught on so fast that the entire building was engulfed by the time they got here,” said Boyce.
He said that the fire fighters did an excellent job containing the blaze and preventing it from catching on to others nearby. Neighbours and other residents of the community quickly flocked to the scene and expressed concerns about the whereabouts of Marshall.
Several persons said that they were certain that he was not at home since it was routine for him to be walking around Linden at that time of the day. Neighbours said that Marshall was seen leaving the home sometime after 4pm.
“His cousin who usually come and cook and thing for him left lil before him and when she gone, he come downstairs and left the yard,” said a neighbour.
A niece, who arrived at the scene approximately half an hour after, said that her uncle never had cause to light any fire because she would cook for him, make sure he ate and clean and ensure that he was taken care of. She said that the area where the neighbours said the fire started was not in use. “All that down there was sheer rubbish and old things,” she said.
Marshall later arrived at the scene and as he approached his gutted house, several persons followed him to observe his reaction. The man walked into the yard, looked around with a grin on his face but was led out the yard by his niece.
As police officers attempted to question the man, he gave his name but said that he was 60 years old. This was repeatedly corrected by his niece who insisted that he was mentally challenged and begged that police not question him further out of fear that he might get agitated. The woman said that she would have to take care of her uncle due to the loss of all his possessions. She could not give a value of the losses sustained but said that her uncle occupied the upper flat of the house, where there was one kerosene stove, which he never used.
This was the second fire in less than a week in Linden. On Sunday, 17 persons lost their homes in a fire at One Mile Wismar, Linden.
