The family of seven left homeless after fire flattened a one bedroom shack in Good Hope on the East Coast Demerara on Tuesday has been given a place to stay by a resident in the village.
Yamkumeran Bissoon said fire authorities told her that the fire was caused by a lit candle. She said her son had lit the candle next to a pile of clothes, which caught fire.
She said a woman in the neighbourhood offered them a place to stay and gave her children clothes to wear. Bissoon and her six children had been left on the roadside after their home was burnt to the ground by the fire.
She said her daughter who was writing the National Grade Six Assessment last week had to go to school with a jeans and a t-shirt.
The fire started around 7 pm on Tuesday after Bissoon left home to go bathe by a neighbour since she was not getting any running water. She said that after she received a call about the fire she had to get someone to break open the door since her children were asleep and trapped inside.
“It’s frustrating because it’s six of them I have to manage right now and it’s harder because everything is gone…all their school stuff burn up,” she said.
Residents in the area said the fire service took an hour to arrive at the scene and by that time the house was already flattened by the flames.
