A fire, the origin of which is yet to be determined, ripped through a two-storey timber and concrete house at Lot 50 Albion, Guava Bush, Corentyne, Berbice on Thursday, leaving two families counting their losses.
A New Amsterdam Fire Service officer, Shannon Crawford, told Stabroek News in a telephone interview that the Guyana Fire Service (GFS) received a call around 00:34 in the morning about a fire at the aforementioned address and four fire-fighters using a tender from the Rose Hall Station were able to put the fire out.
The cause of the fire, he said, was the overloading of an electrical circuit which resulted in arcing and sparking wires that ignited with nearby combustibles. No one was injured.
Meanwhile, the families are saying that they are not sure how the fire started. According to them, one family was sleeping at the bottom flat of the home when the fire started.
Stabroek News managed to speak to both families who said that they lost everything and are in dire need of help in any form from the public to rebuild their homes as they are living with relatives at the moment.
Devindra Punwassie, a 32 year-old cane cutter who resided at the two storey- timber and concrete structure explained that on Thursday he, his pregnant wife and two children – ages 3 and 1, were all asleep when around midnight he was awakened by the smell of something burning. He said he got up and saw fire spreading upstairs.
He said he immediately woke his family up and they all ran out of the flat. He then alerted his neighbours and they contacted the Guyana Fire Service (GFS) for help.
He noted that by the time the GFS arrived on the scene, the home was completely destroyed by the fire.
Punwassie stressed that he lost a lot, including $200,000 in cash, children’s school clothes, gas stove, chair set, refrigerator and other home appliances.
Meanwhile, his cousin, Shivani Rakesh, 51 who lived in the upper flat of the home with her husband and four children – ages nine, seven, five, and four – said at the time of the fire she was visiting her stepmother, a street away. She said that it was her father’s birthday so the family decided to spend the night there. However, after midnight, her mother received a call from Rakesh’s neighbour who informed her that the house was on fire.
Rakesh explained that when she got there, they couldn’t save anything as the home was fully engulfed in flames. She noted that when the fire service arrived, the home was already destroyed by the fire. She said she lost everything including her children’s text books, school uniforms, home appliances, clothes, and more.
Both families are appealing for any kind of help as they both re residing at their relatives. Anyone wishing to help these families can contact them on: 652-8538, 628-3203, 673-2536 and 673-2462.
