Twelve people, including several children, have no place to live after their house and another were gutted by a fire last evening, while a third house was also damaged.
The fire was said to have started at around 8 pm in the second of three houses at Lot 3 Tucville Squatting area. The houses, one behind the other on the single lot, were occupied by three sisters.
Nicole Joumel, who was at home with her children and husband at the time, told Stabroek News that she could not say what happened.
“I had just gotten in from work and was about to go do some washing when I hear somebody on the road holler fire and by time I look out, I see the roof of the middle house on fire. But I can’t tell you exactly what happened,” she said.
The visibly distraught woman explained that she and her family had been living the back house for the past 14 years. The fire has now left them without a place to stay. The middle house, she said, was unoccupied but had belonged to her sister who now resides in neighbouring Suriname, while the front house was occupied by another sister.
Joumel related that front house was not as badly damaged as the middle and the back houses, which experienced the severity of the blaze.
Up to press time last night, the cause of the fire remained unknown. It was too dark to conduct any investigations into what could have caused it, Joumel said adding that the fire service investigators had indicated that they would return in the morning.
Meanwhile, the woman could not comment on the extent of the loss, since she too was unable to see how much damage was done. There are no street lights in the area.
Nevertheless, she praised the work of the firefighters who she said came immediately and managed to extinguish the blaze.
