A Sophia family last evening lost their home after fire from a heap of garbage, which was set alight, caught on to the back of the wooden structure and gutted it.
The house, at Lot 429 Block X, Sophia, was occupied by six persons. There were no reported injuries.
According to eyewitnesses, the fire was first seen at the back of the building sometime around 6.30 pm. One of the occupants of the house, Nefertiti Thompson, said she was at work when she received a phone call informing her that her home was on fire. She immediately rushed to the scene, but by the time she arrived there, the entire building had been gutted.
She said the house was owned by her retired mother, 56-year-old Paulette Thompson, but she occupied the upper flat, while her brother Clifford Thompson along with his wife and three children lived downstairs.
She said, “We were told, by the children, that the babysitter had just stepped out to light the heap at the back and she went back inside and then the fire started.”
However, the Thompsons had not spoken to the babysitter, who was at her home a short distance away, to determine what exactly transpired leading up the tragic incident. “What we can suggest is that when she light the fire, it catch on the wooden chicken pen at the back of the house and then destroy the whole thing,” Nefertiti Thompson added.
Clifford Thompson told Stabroek News that he had just left the house and was called and informed of the fire.
When he arrived, in the company of his mother, the building was gutted and they were unable to save anything. The duo held each other and cried bitterly. Paulette Thompson was heard saying, “All me labour gone down the drain. Me tek loan from the bank and build me house and watch wah happen.” The estimated loss is in the vicinity of $7.5 million.
The woman explained that she was an employee of the Ministry of Education and retired a few years ago, but had earlier taken a loan from a local bank for the construction of the two-storey, six-bedroom house. She used her retirement benefits to repay the loan.
Residents were heard lamenting that they would have been able to save items from the building but sparking electrical wires prevented them from doing so.
An eyewitness said he saw the fire at the back of the building and an alarm was raised and some residents formed a bucket brigade in attempt to put out the fire. However, that was unsuccessful and the flames quickly engulfed the wooden structure.
The Guyana Fire Service was summoned and arrived some 20 minutes later, but by then, the entire building was in flames.
Firemen were unable to save the building but successfully prevented the fire from spreading to the nearby houses.
