A FAMILY of two was left homeless yesterday morning, after a fire destroyed their Lot 129 ‘BB’ First Street, Eccles, East Bank Demerara home.
The blaze, of unknown origin, took place about 09:00 h when both occupants of the two-storey concrete structure were not there.
The flames were first seen on the eastern side of the building in a bedroom and, within minutes, engulfed the upper flat of the dwelling.
Nineteen-year-old Kendra Anthony and Melissa Jordan, 25, who lived there, were overwhelmed with grief on their return to the scene and collapsed in tears.
One neighbour, George Mohan told the Guyana Chronicle that he saw smoke and, when he realised what was happening, he alerted the others, who quickly tried to remove things from inside the house but, when one was burnt, they abandoned the effort as the heat became too intense.
He said they fetched a sofa from the lower flat but could not get upstairs as the conflagration spread rapidly.
The entire upper storey, which housed the bedrooms, was reduced to rubble while the lower flat was water soaked.
People in the neighbourhood said the Guyana Fire Service (GFS) responded promptly to the alarm and, as a result, the downstairs of the building was saved by the operation of two tenders.
On Sunday a similar disaster, mid-morning, at Zeeburg, West Coast Demerara, caused the destruction of the home of seven persons and millions of dollars in losses.
The building, in which two families resided, also housed an electronic appliances business.