An early afternoon fire yesterday destroyed a two-storey building at Vryheid’s Lust, East Coast Demerara, leaving eight persons homeless.
The building was also located in the same compound that houses the Ephraim Scott Memorial Presbyterian Church.
The fire is believed to have started around 1.35 pm in the top flat of the Lot 35 Vryheid’s Lust residence, which was occupied by Yvonne Pearson, Advisor to the Minister of Amerindian Affairs; her son Curtis Fredericks along with his wife; Pearson’s two other children and a grandchild. The downstairs flat was occupied by Glen Baptiste and his wife.
One man, who asked to remain anonymous, said the building could have been saved had it not been for
the slothfulness of the firemen. “Their response was nothing excellent.
If me foot de good I would have done a better job. The fire tender only came with half a tank… If they had enough water they would have been able to do a better job,” the man said.
When Stabroek News arrived on the scene, firefighters were dousing what remained of the building. The firemen were unable to say how the fire started, but said it was believed to have been started in the top flat.
Pearson said she was at work when she received a phone call about the fire. “I didn’t even know about the fire. I was at work when my husband called from Essequibo to say that there was a fire.
At first I thought it was the house over there but then he told me to go home quick cause the house burn down. By the time I come home the house done gone,” she said.
The woman said they were at a loss as to what may have started the fire. “We don’t have small children and we would normally turn off everything.
The only thing we would leave plugged in is the refrigerator,” she said.
Pearson added that she had only moved to the residence a little over a year ago and was now contemplating her next move. “I moved from Essequibo about a year ago.
My son was living here before and I came down to live because I work in Georgetown. We have nowhere to go now. My son is supposed to be writing CXC next year and he is more confused, all of his textbooks and everything were destroyed,” she said.
