An electrical fire on Monday evening at Sisters Village, East Bank Berbice, swept through three houses, leaving at least six people homeless.
Sharmila Seetaram, a 39-year-old single mother of Lot 28 Sisters Village, East Bank Berbice told Stabroek News yesterday evening that smoke was seen emanating from the front room of her home at about 18:15 hrs. Seetaram said that she was outside with her niece conversing with friends, when neighbours ran over and shouted, “fire in the front room.”
According to Seetaram, the fire started in the ceiling of the front room and initially they thought it could be contained. Neighbours entered the house and tried to put out the fire, she said, but it continued to spread to different parts of the home since it was a windy night.
Seetaram was occupying the two-storey house with her niece, cousin, nephew and a baby. She added that as the house became fully engulfed in flames, a transformer on the Guyana Power and Light (GPL) utility pole exploded.
“I leave my three-year-old baby with them girls who are neighbours on the roadside and run in back to see what I can do. Them boys who were trying to put out the fire in the front room tell me, ‘no go outside’ and the only thing I pick up is my baby bottle on the TV stand,” she said.
Stabroek News was told that the Guyana Fire Service (GFS) was contacted minutes after the fire started. When the first tender arrived at the scene, the two-storey house was fully engulfed in flames and another house had caught fire because of the wind.
Maryam Gani, the daughter of Nazim Gani, a 53-year-old taxi driver whose house was also destroyed by the fire, said they were not expecting the fire to spread. Maryam Gani said the fire started on the wall of their house. She recounted that the wires began sparking as the fire swiftly spread to her father’s house because of the heavy wind. The Ganis’ house was a two-storey wooden and concrete building. The heavy wind also played a major role as the fire spread to several parts of the home. At the time of the fire, the house, a rental property, was unoccupied.
However, the third house, which is also owned by Nazim Gani, suffered minor fire and water damage. Nazim Gani was the sole occupant of the home. The GFS managed to put out the fire before it ignited combustibles in the home. Maryam Gani estimated that millions went up in flames; one room was saved.
A fourth home suffered damage to its walls as a result of the radiated heat.
The main origin of the fire was Seetaram’s house and it later spread to the other two houses. The Sataram family of five was rescued by relatives last evening but they are seeking help to have a new home.
