Yasin Hasim and family, expecting to welcome the newest member next month, are now without a home after fire gutted their house at Felicity, on the East Coast Demerara around noon yesterday.
Up to press time, it was unclear what caused the fire at the Lot 22 Felicity Railway Embankment three-bedroom house that Hasim, his pregnant wife, their six children and his father called home.
No one was at home when the fire started, shortly after Hasim ate his lunch and left for the neighbouring Success village to pick up a tool, before returning to work at Atlantic Gardens. “…When I reach the work place, the lady tell me if I hear what happen and I tell she no and she tell me that my house burn down flat,” he recalled, adding that he immediately travelled to the scene, where the news was confirmed.
Hasim, a mason, said he had been living at the property for approximately 30 years. “I had fridge, microwave, bed, sofa, amplifier, speakers, tools and nuff electrical items in me house but none was on when I left the house,” he maintained. “I just go in, eat, then lock back the kitchen door but I can’t really say what caused the fire because nobody was at home.”
At the time of the fire, he noted, his wife was attending a religious function on the West Coast Demerara, while the children, whose ages range between two and 10 years, had gone on a school tour.
Hasim’s wife is pregnant with their seventh child and is expected to give birth early next month. “Right now, me wife near fuh get baby and only two week ago me buy baby clothes and all burn up now,” Hasim said.
When Hasim’s mother arrived at the scene, she fainted and fell to the ground. Neighbours later revived her. Many of the neighbours who gathered reported that they saw a cloud of smoke emanating from the home some time around 12:30 pm and immediately raised an alarm and summoned the fire service. However, by the time the fire tender arrived the house was almost gone. They suggested that the house burned fast because of the aged wood at the front, which went up in flames quickly.
The fire-fighters were seen closely examining the burnt structure and one of the investigators retrieved the burner of a kerosene stove, which he inspected along with another investigator.
Meanwhile, up to last evening Hasim was repairing the bottom flat of his mother’s home, a few doors away from his property, to house his family until he can rebuild his house. “Well, me gat some boys here and we building up my mother bottom house and we gon stay here till me can build back… never mind we nah got no mattress to sleep on or clothes but we got to manage until we able,” the distraught man said.
