A fire, suspected to be of electrical origin, destroyed a two-storey house at Line Path, Upper Corentyne, yesterday morning and the homeowner was seriously burnt during his escape.
Rishiram Rajpaul, 50, of Line Path, Upper Corentyne, suffered burns to his face, hands, and back. He was rushed to the National Ophthalmology Hospital at Port Mourant, due to injuries to his eyes.
According to Rajpaul, he was watching television on Sunday evening when the electricity went off, after which he remained in his chair and fell asleep. The man said he awakened to the smell of smoke and he discovered flames emanating from the backroom in his house. “I rushed to the room but I couldn’t do nothing,” he said.
He rushed to collect a bucket of water in order to out the fire. “I couldn’t do nothing and then it started to fly inside the house and the smoke was too much,” he explained.
His next door neighbour, who he alerted, then placed a table below his window, from which he jumped to escape the fire. “When I turn back, I see flame in my face. One second more I would have die,” he added.
The injured man estimated his losses to be close to $15 million and he noted that he plans to take action against the Guyana Power and Light Inc., since he believes the fire was as a result of the recurrent blackouts the area had experienced during the day.
According to Rajpaul and other residents, there were about four outages before the fire on Sunday.
Meanwhile, according to residents, a police patrol immediately responded to the fire and phoned the Guyana Fire Service, which turned up about 35 minutes later.
According to the residents, the fire service had a major issue in sourcing water and then pumping the water, since they claimed that there was an issue with their pump.
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