Four persons lost their home yesterday after a fire, suspected to have been electrical in origin, destroyed the top flat of a house at Da Silva Street, Newtown, Kitty.
The fire, which started in the upper flat of the building, at Lot 1 Da Silva Street, at around 12:45 am yesterday morning, also scorched the side of a neighbouring building.
The fire service arrived at the scene a short while after and managed to put out the blaze and save the nearby houses.
The owner of the building, Rushona Evans, is among those who lost their home in the fire. Evans and her friend were asleep in the upper flat of the building when the fire started. Neighbours also stated that the two tenants in the bottom flat were asleep at the time of the fire too.
Nothing was saved from the building, which was engulfed in flames within minutes and power lines and telephone cables were also destroyed by the blaze.
Before the fire service arrived, the fire had spread to the house on the western side. The house was, however, by the arrival of fire fighters. The occupants of that house, however, refused to speak to this newspaper when contacted yesterday.
Evans was not at home when this newspaper visited the scene but her aunt, Sandra Hamilton, related that her niece was asleep in the house when she woke up to smoke in her bedroom.
Hamilton said Evans then ran out of the house because she was afraid. When she exited the building, she began calling for her friend, who was still in the building sleeping. Her friend then exited through the back door of the house before it was engulfed in flames.
Hamilton also said that during the course of the previous day, there had been a voltage fluctuation, which is suspected to have been responsible for the fire. She also said that a neighbour told her he saw what seemed to be like fairy lights in the house that he thought that Evans had put on. This, she suggested, could have been a wire that was sparking due to the fluctuating voltage, thereby resulting in the fire.
The neighbour who lives at the rear of Evans’ home said that he was awoken by persons who were screaming for fire. He added that he ran outside and saw the house in flames. “I run outside and I see the fire falling on the walkway, so I duck and walk through… but I could not pass to come back in,” he said.
Another neighbour said he was in his yard about to fetch water to bathe when he saw flames coming from the front of the building. He said he began to scream for fire and persons came out of their homes. “I start calling for fire and we try to throw water but de fire de too much,” he said.
Meanwhile, Evans will be staying with her aunt until she rebuilds her home.
