A fire of unknown origin swept through a two-storey concrete house yesterday afternoon at 16 New Providence, East Bank Demerara.
No injuries were reported and no neighbouring buildings were affected by the blaze.
According to relatives, the home is owned by Florence Ramsaroop, the widow of former Guyana High Commissioner to Trinidad and Tobago and one-time Chairman of the People’s National Congress (PNC), Bishwaishwar ‘Cammie’ Ramsaroop, and occupied by her grandson, Seth Persaud, who was at work when the incident occurred.
According to the Guyana Fire Service (GFS) Divisional Operations Officer, Clive McDonald, at around 2:18pm yesterday, the Fire Service received a call about a building on fire at New Providence and immediately two water tenders were dispatched to the scene. One from the scene of a fire at Agricola on the East Bank of Demerara, and the other from the West Ruimveldt Fire Station.
Upon their arrival, firefighters encountered the building engulfed in flames. They immediately went into action to contain the blaze and prevent it from spreading to neighbouring buildings. However, the magnitude of the fire was such that they were unable to save the house. When asked about the cause of the fire, McDonald said that it is being investigated by the GFS. However, he disclosed that the Fire Service has a few theories.
Meanwhile, the grandson who was not at home when the fire started told the Sunday Stabroek that he left home at about 6:30 am for work and about 2:10 pm, he received a call saying that the house was on fire. He related that he then rushed down to the scene but nothing could be saved. Persaud said that the home belonged to his grandmother and when asked about what may have caused the fire, he said he couldn’t say and that the GFS is currently investigating it.
Racquel Singh, the daughter of the owner said yesterday that she’s still in shock and that she too was unable to say what caused the fire. By the time she arrived home, the house and its contents were destroyed. She added that the home was concrete on the outside but the interior of the home was wooden. “The home was well furnished, top of the line with everything.” She estimated the value of the contents lost to be around $20 to $30 million.
“That is my childhood home. The happiness for my mom and it’s now taken away,” she lamented. She noted that the cause is suspected to be electrical and they are awaiting the results of the investigation.
Savitri Ramdass, the housekeeper, recounted that she received a call after 2 pm about the house on fire. She said that everything in the home would normally be turned off so she doesn’t know what would have caused the fire. “We don’t leave on nothing.”
A neighbour, Michael Burnett, said the fire started shortly after 2pm. He said that another neighbour who saw the fire first, informed the other residents through the community group chat. He noted that when he received the message around 2:09 pm yesterday, he wasn’t at home and by the time he got to the scene, the house was already engulfed in flames. He said he called the Fire Service and was told that they were on their way. He is thankful that the fire was contained by the Fire Service.
Catherine Hughes, also a resident of the community, told this newspaper that it was one of the neighbours who was at the time of the blaze driving into the community and saw the fire. She explained that it is then the neighbours were alerted in the community chat. A neighbour broke the glass door to get into the house in order to see if anyone was at home. There was a car that was parked in the yard and the neighbours were successful in moving it to safety.
When this newspaper arrived on the scene at around 3:40 pm, the Fire Service was in the process of putting out two small fires.
