A family of seven lost their Windsor Castle, Essequibo Coast home in a fire yesterday.
The origin of the fire, which gutted the Lot 2 Windsor Castle, Essequibo Coast home of rice farmer Harry Parmanan, 73, and his family, was unknown up to press time.
Stabroek News was told that the fire started around 9 am in one of the rooms in the family’s two-storey wood and concrete home.
Harry’s son, Lall Parmanan, who shares the house with his wife and four children, said he was in the backdam when he learnt of the fire.
“I was in the backdam and I saw the smoke… I called my wife and she told me our house is on fire. I left the backdam right away and by time I got home the fire had already destroyed everything,” explained Lall, who is a large scale rice farmer on the Essequibo Coast.
When Lall arrived at the scene, he said he observed firefighters battling the fire. Two fire trucks responded and firefighters battled the fire before extinguishing the flames on the upper flat.
A few bags of fertilisers and paddy that were under the house were removed by first responders. Lall stated that at the time of the fire, his wife was at home but she was only alerted after one of their sons went upstairs and discovered smoke in the upper flat.
“My third son had just come home from the backdam and go upstairs when he saw the fire and run down back and tell he mother. By time them two go back upstairs, the fire was blazing. They had to run out of the house…,” he related. Lall said he could not put a figure to the losses but stated that they were in the millions since nothing was saved.
“Nothing was saved… Nothing! Nothing! All we had burn up and we are just left with the clothes we have on. We didn’t get to save anything… All that is standing now are the house post…,” he lamented.
Lall noted that while the property was insured, he is unclear on how long it would take for them to process e a claim to rebuild their home.
At the moment, he said the family is being accommodated at the home of relatives. Persons desirous of assisting the family can contact them on 684-4792 or 678-9603.
