FIREFIGHTERS have not ruled out arson as a possible cause of the fire which destroyed an unoccupied home at Barbie Dam, North Ruimveldt, on Wednesday night. They revisited the scene yesterday and are continuing their investigations.

Fire struck around 21:30hrs on Wednesday at the squatter scheme.

The Fire Department responded promptly on receiving the call, but the wooden one bedroom building, elaborately furnished, was well alight by the time they arrived on the scene.
The house was not powered by the Guyana Power and Light, and even though neighbours claimed that there was a generator in the home, it was not in use, since the house was not occupied at the time that fire struck.

The owner, Travis Seymour, who, neighbours claim, has been absent from the home for a considerable while, could not be reached for comment. 
However, Fiona Batson, who lives in a neighbouring scheme, said she was at her home when someone called to say that her brother’s house was on fire. 
Seymour’s elderly mother, who also lives a few houses away from her son’s home, was whisked away to safety, as the heat and crackling sounds intensified.

Wednesday’s fire was the second to have struck Barbie Dam within the last year. About one year ago, on January 15 last, fire of unknown origin broke out in the home of  Abiolo Edinboro, occupied by Denise Warrick, a supernumerary constable of the Guyana Police Force, who was  at work at the time.

The fire which spread with alarming speed, quickly ripped through three other buildings, leaving fourteen persons, including two infants, homeless.      
Following that fire, the affected families relocated and never looked back, since they were all given notice to remove by the end of January, 2010 to allow for a demolition exercise with a view to improving the aesthetics and security arrangements in the Joint Services neighbourhood.