An early morning fire, suspected to be electrical in origin, yesterday destroyed a fully furnished, five-bedroom house in Port Mourant, Corentyne, leaving a security guard, his wife and their three children homeless.
Tilack Sookram, 37, of Lot 41 Port Mourant, Corentyne, told this newspaper that he and his wife left home early yesterday morning. He explained that he left to go to work and his wife decided that she would make an early morning trip to the market.
When his wife returned home around 7.30 am, he said, she discovered the upper flat of their house engulfed in flames and her three children in the bottom flat unaware of the fire. He said his wife began running and yelling for them to come out on the road, which they immediately did. He explained that his children told him “they ain’t know how it start.”
Sookram said neighbours who ventured out to assist were only able to retrieve a television set from the house. He estimated that he lost $800,000 in household items in the fire along with his savings of $375,000.
He said he suspected the fire could be electrical in origin, since he has always experienced electrical problems in the house. “Me does get current problem from the post, majority time bulb blowing and so; me can’t use more than one electrical thing at one time. Nuff time me had to fix back the fridge and so,” he said.
The father of three is pleading for assistance from the general public. He said that because of the fire he will not be able to send his two children to school on Monday, as everything he owned along with all of their school belongings, was destroyed.
Sookram explained that the owner of the house migrated many years ago and he had been living there and taking care of the house for four years. He said he had often visited the Ministry of Housing seeking a house lot and hopes that one will be provided to him, since he has nowhere else to go.
Meanwhile, residents told this newspaper that the previous caretakers of the house would have to “shake a GPL wire” to get the appliances in the house to work.
According to information, a report of the electrical problem was made to the Guyana Power and Light.
Residents also claimed that the fire service could have saved the bottom flat of the house, where Sookram had all of his appliances. “When dem [the fire service] come de house top alone had de fire. It get one trench right dere wid water dem didn’t wan go in. Dem go till the koker and be time dem come back de fire deh in the whole house,” one woman said.
Anyone desirous of assisting the family of five can make contact with Sookram on telephone numbers 336-6361 or 639-6307.
