A three-week-old baby left in the care of a five-year-old perished last night in a Stewartville fire which also left three persons homeless.
The fire at 116 Middle Street, Stewartville, West Coast Demerara, started at around 20:30 and by the time the Guyana Fire Service finished trying to put it out, the property had been gutted. Flickers of flames could be seen here and there within the building even after the firemen had finished fire- fighting.
Members of the Guyana Fire Service were on the scene carrying out their investigations into the origins of the fire
Efforts by this newspaper to speak with the mother of the dead child proved futile.
Kevin Smith, the owner of the property, who also lives there, said that he left the house about 20:00 last night and “everything was ok.”
“I left my brother in law and sister in law home together with his child and his nephew,” he said. “At the time of the fire it was only the baby and the five year old boy (who were home),” he said. “I don’t know what exactly take place but when I came [home] the house had already burned down,” Smith said.
Having built the house some 15 years ago, Smith said that its worth is about $5 million. He said that it was uninsured and that his losses of the items inside the house are about $2 million. He said that there was a quantity of cash in the house that was destroyed by the flames. “The house had everything inside, bed, washing machine, flat screen TV. Everything destroyed,” he said.
Smith said that he lives in the house with his girlfriend and her nephew. The baby who perished came with his mother and father to spend two weeks in Stewartville.
