The fire at the Fordyce home

A family of ten was left homeless yesterday after fire razed the home of Varsnie and Joseph Fordyce at 101 Silvertown, Wismar, Linden.

The building was last estimated in 1982 at approximately $11M when it became the property of the couple.

When the fire struck in the bottom flat, the elderly couple reportedly were in the top flat of the two storey building watching television along with two of their grandchildren.

Beneath the home of the Fordyces was a shop which became inoperable about three years ago but housed building materials for one of the Fordyce’s daughters who was to build her home in Amelia’s Ward. All this went up in flames.

At the end of it all, what was left standing were an old sign which suggested a store was there and a concrete fence along with the debris.

Nothing was saved from the fire. With just his blue trousers on Fordyce took some time to state his feelings as he sat on the grass looking at what was once his home, saying he was unable to determine his next move.

‘I lost everything – the heat was so intense that we had to get out of there quick, we didn’t have a chance to save anything.’

Their ten-year-old grand daughter Crystal Orna, who attends the Watooka Day School, said she had gone to purchase butter fish for the family at the market when someone said to her, ‘Go quick and see is who house burning’.

She related in tears that she began shouting and cried out that everything was lost, including her books, bags and school clothes.

A familiar scene was acted out when the Guyana Fire Service was summoned and they ran out of water.

Water had to be sourced, mechanical problems developed with the tender, and by that time the fire had consumed the building.

Residents of Wismar were fuming at this.