A fire just around noon yesterday left a trail of devastation for a Grove, East Bank Demerara family as the conflagration destroyed two of their properties, one of which housed a well-known paint shop.
The origin of the fire has not yet been established and up to yesterday afternoon, fire-fighters were on the scene conducting investigations.
The raging midday fire first destroyed the BR&T Paint and Hardware Store known to many on the East Bank as ‘Rex Paint Store’ and later spread to the home of the proprietors. While a section of the house remains, the water and fire damage was extensive.
The building that housed the hardware store also included living quarters on the upper flat. This building was destroyed.
The owners of the properties declined to speak with reporters yesterday.
According to a neighbour, who resides behind the buildings, he was resting when his daughter raised an alarm. He explained that when he went outside he noticed smoke billowing from the building. The man who operates the koker in the area said he immediately rushed out of his house and closed the koker doors in a bid to secure water for the fire tenders.
The man added that he and his family members immediately began soaking their home.
“There was nuff breeze at the time and we didn’t want to take chances so we started to soak the house because you never know what can happen,” he said.
Meanwhile, another neighbour who resides next to the buildings that were engulfed told reporters she was caught off guard.
The woman, Tamika Braithwaite explained “I was inside and I came to the front door and saw some black smoke and I run back inside to see if I can save stuff but I heard some explosion started going on in both houses, my house too was filled with black smoke and I just grab my important documents and run out”.
Her mother had earlier related to Stabroek News that she was on the road when she observed the smoke from her street. The woman said she ran back home and saw that the building which housed the paint shop had “thick black smoke.”
“So I run upstairs and collect my sister suitcase because she only come in the country yesterday (Wednesday) and I told my daughter (Tamika) collect she important document and run out the house,” the woman added.
Braithwaite said that the fire service responded promptly and by time she got out of her house, they were already on the scene.
“I think they did a good job because it would have been everything because when I saw how thick the smoke was and the fire, I said that was it, everything has gone up in flames,” she said with gratitude.
