An 85-year-old man died in a fire which engulfed his house at the Scottsburg Housing Scheme, Corr-iverton, Upper Corentyne early yesterday morning.
Stanley Brown, an amputee, was unable to escape from his room in the upper flat of the two-storey wooden and concrete house where he lived with his wife, Mervette Brown. His daughter and her relatives resided in the lower flat.
The fire is believed to have started in Brown’s room. Stabroek News was told that it is suspected that a candle burned out and ignited a dresser in his room. However, since Brown’s door was securely locked, no one was able to enter to rescue him.
According to an occupant of the lower flat, Tyrese Smith, the fire began sometime around 5 am yesterday. “I hear me uncle upstairs holla for me aunty so I say ‘so early this man calling me aunty’ and then I hear me aunty hollering and when I run go up, the door lock and I hear me aunty asking me uncle for the keys and I run down back and go around back and I see the fire blazing through the one side bedroom window,” Smith recounted.
He said that he then rushed and started to “kick down” the back door in an effort to rescue his relatives who were trapped in the upper flat. According to the young man, by this time neighbours had rushed over and joined the effort to open the door but they were unable to do so. “The house then go in big flames and nobody couldn’t do anything,” he said.
Meanwhile, Stabroek News was told that a gas bottle exploded in the house after which Brown’s wife was forced to “jump through the side window” in order to save herself.
The Guyana Fire Service has launched an investigation into the fire.
