Fire of unknown origin destroyed three houses at Grant 1803 Crabwood Creek, Corentyne just after midnight yesterday resulting in millions of dollars in losses and eight persons homeless.
The fire started in the house at the centre and quickly spread to the other two. Although firefighters from the Springlands Fire Station responded promptly and arrived at the scene within 10 minutes while only the first house was on fire, they were unable to contain the blaze.
Rishilakram Gamandie, 62; businessman and owner of one of the houses told Stabroek News that he had retired to bed around 11:30 pm and between 12 to 12:30 a.m. he was awakened by a crackling sound.
He noticed the red glare coming from the northern section of his building. He ran to the window and realized that the lower flat of the house to the north was already engulfed.
A young couple who started renting the house about two months ago was not at home at the time of the fire. The owner of that house resides overseas.
The other house belonged to Azaaz Alli Masumalli, 53, who engages in contract work for farmers with his tractor.
Masumalli, too, was fast asleep when he was awakened by an “explosion.” Upon checking, he realized that the “house in the middle was on fire. I ran to the front door but could not come out because of the heat.”
He then managed to escape through the back door and did not get to save anything. When he got out of the house many people had already gathered at the scene.
Gamandie told Stabroek News that he immediately alerted his son, Roopram Rishilakram, 37 and his daughter-in-law, Hemwattie Persaud, 32 about the fire and told them to get his two granddaughters; Neehaa, 10 and Molonie, 9 out to safety.
He recalled that his son called the fire service while he opened the grill door and ran out on the road. His son drove two vehicles safely out of the yard.
The businessman said he was trying to return to the house to see what he could have saved when Roopram “shove me out and said ‘pa, don’t go the heat and smoke too much’”.
Gamandie who operates a grocery, lottery and phone card business told this newspaper that he then asked Roopram to at least save the lotto machine.”
He was very grateful that the fire tender arrived promptly but was disappointed that the water was exhausted so quickly. He said that by the time the fire-fighters were able to source water from near the sea dam all three buildings were in flames.
The emotional Gamandie told this newspaper sadly that, “All I could have done was watch helplessly as everything that I worked my whole life for go down the drain. My losses are tremendous; I have lost millions of dollars.”
Many household items including four freezers, fridge, five televisions as well as six computers, two licensed firearms and documents such as passports and other important documents were destroyed.
But in tears, he said his greatest loss were items like his “religious DVDs and CDs with songs that I cherished and my little temple in my house.”
He lamented that he did not inherit anything from his father who struggled to raise him and his siblings, recalling that he “worked very hard while going to school.”
“I sold Mirror and Thunder newspapers and worked at sawmills during the holidays and even cleaned drainage canals to get money to go to school.”
He said his building was insured but “not to the extent of my loss. I never expected something like this to happen…”
A resident, Rishi Singh who lives opposite said he woke up around 12:25 am and saw that the fire had just started “in the middle house.” He too is sad that although the fire tender arrived within 10 minutes, it could not have saved the other buildings.
