Eight members of a Covent Garden, East Bank Demerara family lost their home in a fire yesterday afternoon.
Sayeeda Aziz was at home with her children around 4 pm yesterday when she got a whiff of smoke. Less than 10 minutes later, Aziz, her husband, their three children, son-in-law and two grandchildren had lost their home and all their personal belongings in a fire which began in the upper flat of the two-storey house.
“Everybody went downstairs, ’cause we does normally be downstairs. We does only use upstairs fuh sleep. I de just start cooking when I tell me son: ‘boy me smell smoke like somebody light fire some way,’” Aziz told Stabroek News. As she turned back towards the stove after talking to her son, she said, she noticed smoke coming from above.
“When I turn around I see smoke above me. I turn around again and run upstairs with me son but de fire de already spread too far. I de just able turn off the stove and run out with the gas bottle,” she said.
According to the distraught woman, though neighbours tried to assist them in removing some of their belongings and dousing the fire, their efforts proved futile.
“The only things that come out is the gas bottle I run out with and de refrigerator. I de just clean the fridge so that was empty and they get to bring it out quick,” she said.
She said the house was engulfed in flames by the time the fire service arrived.
At the site, Station Officer Curtland Harry said the firefighters were able to get the fire under control as soon as they arrived.
“When we arrived, the building was already completely engulfed. We went into firefighting operations and got it under control. It took us about 3 to 4 minutes to completely extinguish it,” he said. Two fire tenders, one from Diamond and one from Georgetown responded to the call.
Aziz, who lived in the now destroyed house for more than two decades, is at a loss as to how to move forward. Her husband, who returned from work to find his home burning, was simply too distraught to speak, while their children wept in their grandparents’ yard.
Aziz said that while neighbours have offered them space and her parents who live across the street have opened their home as well, they simply don’t know what they will do next.
