A New Amsterdam, Berbice family is now mourning the loss of their matriarch after the 58-year-old woman was trapped in her burning house yesterday morning. Everything in the house – a two-storey with three bedrooms upstairs and two bedrooms downstairs was completely destroyed by the fire – with only the shell left standing.
Dead is Sharon Austin, 58, of Lot 2137 St Magdalene Street, New Amsterdam.
The woman’s daughter, Police Corporal in charge of the Reliance Police Station, Brenda Onieka Johnson, explained that she resided in the bottom flat of the building with her four children ages; 20, 17, 14, and 7, while her mother, stepfather and brother resided in the upper flat of the building.
According to Johnson, on Friday evening she and her sons slept in the lower flat, while her daughters slept with her mother in the upper flat since her stepfather is away working on a ship and her brother was away working with ExxonMobil.
Johnson said, that it was just around 4.15 am, when she heard her daughter “stamping down.” She said, they initially thought there were bandits upstairs and her sons immediately ran up.
However, “The two girls were hustling to open the door and my small daughter said ‘Fire! Fire!’ and me second son run upstairs and pull the two girls down and them seh granny turn back in the house …because the fire was not so close to the door but my second son by time he run to save mommy the fire was too much for him to get to her and she actually collapsed with the smoke right before the entrance to the front door.”
According to the devastated woman, her sons attempted to break a window to regain entry to the house in an effort to rescue their grandmother but were unable to.
Meanwhile, Johnson expressed her dissatisfaction with the response from the New Amsterdam Fire Service which is located less than two minutes away from where they resided.
She said after an alarm was raised neighbours immediately started to phone the fire service, however, they failed to respond in a timely manner.
“The neighbours called the fire police, I called the operations room and they call, I jump in the car and drive to the fire station and by time I reach back they reach after me”, she said.
“They could have saved that house because from the time we called they could have responded, we living like actually two minutes away and if they had come on time the house would not have burnt so much and we could have saved a lot, everything destroy, everything destroy including my mother”, she related.
As of yesterday, Johnson was unable to provide an estimate on the total loss suffered. According to the woman, her seven-year-old daughter was asleep in the same room with her grandmother when she began feeling a sudden heat. “She wake up and she see smoke and she said the fire was on the clothes horse with the clothes and she was the 0ne that alerted the big sister”, she said.
Additionally, the family relayed that the 14-year-old girl who was sleeping in one of the bedrooms upstairs was unable to get out of the room as it was bolted from the outside. Her seven-year-old sister had to open the door for her to make an escape –something the family found extremely strange.
Johnson yesterday described her mother as her “everything” as she explained that her father never played a role in her life but it was her mother who always stood beside her in everything she did, “Everything was mommy and the kids everything was granny… She was a jovial, loving person.”
Meanwhile, in a statement, the GFS said that it received a call at 4:19 a.m. yesterday.
Water tenders #74, #78, and #87 and water carrier #7, with their respective crews from the New Amsterdam fire station, were immediately dispatched to the location, the GFS said.
The structure involved was a two-storey wooden and concrete building owned by 58-year-old Felix Austin, which he occupied with his family of six.
The GFS said that the fire started after an electrical fan overheated and came into contact with nearby combustible materials, which ignited.
As a result of the fire, it said that 58-year-old Sharon Austin perished.
The ground floor of the building was slightly damaged, the GFS said while the first floor was severely damaged and the contents were completely destroyed.
Three jets working from Water Tenders #78, #74, and #87 and Water Carrier #7 tank supplies were used to put out the fire, the GFS said.
Deputy Police Commander Region No.6, Supt. R. Stanley, Regional Welfare Officer Asst. Supt. H. Hooper, Pastor La Fleur of the Cops and Faith Network, Sergeant Brandt, Detective Sergeant Seeram, W/S/Cpl. Carmichael of the Welfare Department and other ranks visited W/Corporal Johnson at Lot 113 Tucker Park, New Amsterdam, where she is staying with a relative due to the fire.
La Fleur said a prayer of comfort for the family. Superintendent Stanley and other ranks offered words of encouragement.
