A mother and her baby were rescued from a house that went up in flames at Castello Housing Scheme yesterday.
The fire started around 1PM on the upper flat of the two-storey house at Lot 54 Castello Housing Scheme, where four persons had resided.
An eyewitness said the mother was sleeping with her baby when the fire started and she was rescued by neighbours, who kicked down the door to get the woman out.
The woman, whose name was given as Ayanna Brown, was unconscious at a nearby health centre. The baby was in the care of nurses.
The woman’s husband, Shawn Williams, was too distressed to speak with Stabroek News.
Residents said he collapsed when he saw his home burning.
Persons in the area complained that the fire tender arrived with no water and firefighters had to wait on another truck before they could extinguish the fire.
In a video shown to Stabroek News, the fire was eating away at the home while firemen filed back and forth looking for a water source. For years, the fire service has been criticised for arriving without water to extinguish fires.
A similar complaint was made on Tuesday, when firefighters responded to a fire at Enterprise, East Coast Demerara. Villagers criticised the fire service’s response, noting that tenders arrived on the scene late and with no water.
