Two families are now contemplating their next move after a fire yesterday afternoon completely destroyed their houses at Murphy Dam, Rosignol, West Coast Berbice.
Hafeeza Khandai of Lot 150 Second Street, Rosignol whose house was completely destroyed by the fire explained that she lived with her husband and baby while Seelochana Deonarain, also known as ‘Shelly’, 37, of Lot 157 Rosignol along with her teenage daughters, eight-year-old son, and common-law partner lived next door where the fire started. Their premises was also completely destroyed.
According to Khandai, Deonarain’s teenage daughters were arguing just around 5 pm but she did not pay them any heed until they started to scream for her husband’s help.
“The two sisters them start holler and them lock up the back door and hollering for my husband to come quick that fire, fire”, Khandai said.
She said her husband then ran over and noticed fire coming from Deonarain’s kitchen. Khandai relayed, “My husband tek a bucket and run back to my kitchen and start full it and he start throw the water through the kitchen window to try out the fire because them lock up the back door.”
Khandai who resides in the lower flat of the two-storey concrete house which belongs to her grandparents stated that her front grill was locked and she started to scream for help as her entire house was filled with smoke.
“My husband run in the house and grab my hand say run and he pull me but I couldn’t see where I going because me whole house full of smoke but he bring me out and lef me at the side here”, she said.
According to Khandai, the entire house was fully furnished with her grandparents having items worth millions of dollars in the upper flat.
Residents in the area yesterday insisted that the initial story told to them was that Deonarine’s daughters were fighting over the remote for the television resulting in the kerosene stove falling and causing the fire which destroyed both houses.
However, Deonarine yesterday said that this was not true and said that her daughters told her that they heard a sudden noise come from the stove after which they saw fire.
Deonarine that her children were watching television in the living room while she was roasting baigan for dinner after which she turned the stove off and proceeded to the washroom.
She said she then went to her room while her elder daughter, 17, proceeded to wash the dishes in the kitchen when they heard the sound and then “the big one seh the stove ge back and me ain’t know if the stove trip and then them kids full a pot of water and throw it but they couldn’t save anything.”
Deonarine said she then exited her room and started to scream for her children to run but she passed out.
“My big daughter go in back to the house and save me and she wake me up and she seh mommy get out of there and she think she lil brother was still inside the house and she go in back and she pass out but somebody pick she up and bring she out but I don’t know because I blackout in the street”, Deomarine added.
Deonarine said that she worked two jobs for three years as a single parent to provide for her three children. However, after she got together with her new partner she quit her security job in March and remained employed at the Blairmont Estate.
“We have nothing now, nothing na save, everything destroyed.” According to her, her flat concrete structure was also fully furnished.
The police and Guyana Fire Service have launched an investigation into the fire.
