By David Papannah
A family lost its home yesterday in an early morning fire at Number 45 Village, Corentyne, Berbice.
The fire of unknown origin started around 8:45 am yesterday at the back of the upper flat of Lot 13, Number 45 Village residence occupied by Sherrita Rampersaud, Nanraj Churman and their young child.
It destroyed the fully furnished three-bedroom house and also scorched a neighbour’s home, but firefighters managed to contain it before it could spread further.
When Stabroek News arrived at the scene, the three-bedroom house had already been gutted and members of the Guyana Fire Service were trying to put out small fires that kept reigniting.
Rampersaud said she had just come out of the bath when she realised something was wrong. “[I was bathing] and when I came out of the [bathroom] I feel a heat coming from upstairs,” she said. She added that a boy was holding her baby for her and he was outside, so she called for him and when she did a conductor from a passing bus rushed in to the yard and told them there was a fire in the top flat of the home. “…We run out of the yard and all we see is the fire [spreading] through the house,” she said.
Rampersaud said she was not aware of what could have started the fire. She added that the firefighters arrived a bit too late, since the fire had already engulfed the home by the time they turned up. They worked with neighbours to put out the raging fire but could save nothing from her home.
Meanwhile, Churman, the owner of the home, was in court when he got the news about the fire. By the time he returned home, “the fire had already [gutted] three-quarter part of the house.” Like Rampersaud, he said the firefighters responded late, noting that they arrived some 20 minutes after.
Churman was sure that the fire was not a result of any electrical problem, saying he did not use any electrical appliance and he did not notice anything unusual with the electricity before he left for court. According to Churman, a man, with whom he is embroiled in a matter, on several occasions threatened to burn his home down.
When asked to ask to estimate their loss, Churman and Rampersaud said it was in the millions.
The couple’s neighbours, meanwhile, managed to save items in their scorched home, but face expenses in order to repair the windows and other sections of the home.
The remains of the house
The neighbour’s scorched house
