A two-family concrete house at Crane Housing Scheme, West Coast Demerara went up in flames around 8.15 am yesterday and five people have been left homeless.
The fire was said to have started in the kitchen of the four-bedroom upper flat where 71-year-old Leon Alphonso Innis, fondly known as ‘Uncle Mandrake,’ resided.
Innis, who was not at home at the time of the fire, said he was the caretaker of the seven-bedroom house which belonged to his nephew, Adrian Innis, a former fireman who has migrated to the USA.
The bottom flat which had three bedrooms was occupied by a family of four. When Stabroek News visited the scene they had already left to stay with relatives.
A neighbour told Stabroek News that she was relaxing in her hammock when she noticed thick smoke coming from the building.
She raised an alarm and her male relatives ran out to offer assistance. She also alerted two of the people who were home in the bottom flat at the time.
Another resident said the heat was too much for the man and his stepdaughter and they initially ran out without trying to save anything.
The man, they recalled, appeared confused and was pacing the street. It was not until the fire tender arrived and started dousing the building that he returned and a few male residents assisted him in saving some household items including refrigerator and furniture. Most of his items had already gotten wet.
The firefighters gained access to the upper flat to start dousing, by breaking the door. A female neighbour said they started “crying for Uncle Mandrake because we thought he was in the house. He didn’t tell us he was going out.”
They only calmed down when they learnt later from another resident that he had left earlier to go out.
Innis told this newspaper that he had left home around 6.20 am “to go to Georgetown” and when he returned about 9.40 am he saw “lots of people on the street.”
A nephew then informed him that his house was burning. The fire tender was already there trying to quell the blaze.
Sam Khan who lives next door was afraid that he would lose his house as well after the heat became intense. The first thing he did was to grab “some money and clothes and then I start soaking the house.” He was joined by a few residents who formed a bucket brigade.
Residents were pleased that the fighters were able to contain the blaze but one man said he tried “for about half hour to get on to 911. When I finally get through, a female answered roughly and said the tender on its way and what I want she must do.”
Meanwhile, residents were happy that three off-duty firefighters who reside in the area also came out to help before the tender arrived.
