Sita `Padam’ Sukhai, 72, perished in a fire that destroyed her one-bedroom wooden house at Bush Lot, West Coast Berbice on Monday.
The fire started around 11:30 pm after a lighted hand lamp that was on a small table in the house was apparently knocked over. The ailing woman lived alone.
A resident, Abdool Rahim said he and his wife, Zaleena were fast asleep when their 15-year-old daughter woke them up about 11:40 pm and said someone’s house was on fire.
In his dazed state he responded to her that she was “dreaming.” But she kept insisting that he look out the window and that was when he saw the blaze.
Zaleena called out to the other neighbours and they ran to the scene with buckets but were unable to use them because the house was already engulfed.
In the meantime, Rahim said he tried calling “911 for about three quarter hour but could not get through.” As he was doing that other residents had called the police, which he too ended up doing.
The fire tender from the Onverwagt Fire Service arrived at the scene almost an hour later and the water was quickly exhausted.
He was highly critical of their service, noting that there was enough water in the small trench in front of the woman’s house. However, they encountered problems with the pump and it took a while for them to service it.
Rahim said they knew and accepted that the woman may have already been dead from the intense heat and possibly smoke inhalation. But persons kept shouting for the firefighters to try to put the blaze out so as to at least preserve the body. They watched in horror as the fire continued to rage.
By the time the pump was fixed and the firemen started dousing the building the floor collapsed and the woman’s charred remains dropped to the ground. It was cooled off and placed in a bag and taken to the mortuary.
Rahim also expressed dissatisfaction with the way ailing elderly citizens are being treated. He said the woman was a regular patient at the Fort Wellington Hospital and medical personnel there should have known that she was living alone.
According to him, they could have recommended for her to be a resident at the homeless shelter at Onverwagt.
Some persons had been taking care of her daily needs but were not available to stay with her during the nights.
