A 78-year-old woman suffered minor burns about her body and her South Vryheid’s Lust, East Coast Demerara (ECD) home was destroyed in a fire started by her great-grandson yesterday afternoon.
The fire started around 1.08 pm yesterday at Constance Dawson’s Lot 38 South Vryheid’s Lust, home.
The two-storey structure was occupied by Dawson, two of her grand daughters and a great-grandson.
At the time of the fire, only Dawson and her great-grandson were at home.
They lived in the upper flat of the house. The lower flat was not completely constructed.
Fire Chief Kalamadeen Edoo yesterday told Stabroek News that investigations revealed that the fire started after a child playing with a cigarette lighter ignited combustible material, which resulted in flames spreading to the entire building.
Dawson was rushed to the hospital yesterday for medical attention. She sustained minor burns and was said to be in a stable condition.
At the scene, her son, Sheldon Dawson, told Stabroek News that he was at home in Sophia when a friend telephoned him and told him that his mother’s house was on fire.
Sheldon said he immediately rushed to the scene. By the time he arrived, he said the firefighters had already extinguished the fire.
“When I come hay so, the building didn’t really blazing. The fire-reel done went here, fighting the fire. So me ain’t really come and see the building in no big fire,” Sheldon said.
Residents of the area told this newspaper that upon noticing the fire, they rushed to assist in rescuing the elderly woman and her grandson from the house. They said they first managed to rescue the child, who at the time had a cigarette lighter in his hand.
A neighbour, Ron (only name given), said it was his workers who alerted him about the fire. “When I come out, I look up and there was fire coming out from the ceiling,” Ron said.
He added that his workers rushed over to assist. “When they [workers] kick down the door, there was fire already in the house, so the boys them had to go to the back and take her [Dawson] out,” Ron related. “…But before you know it, it all went up in flames,” he said.
“We kicked down the front door and she wasn’t there. So I hear the voice from the back and when we go around to the back she went more to the back door so we just take she out the house,” one of the workers, Harry (only name given), told Stabroek News.
Nothing was saved.
