CHIEF Fire Officer Marlon Gentle said, yesterday, that investigations, so far, into the blaze which completely gutted the wooden house at Lot 66 King Street, Cumberland, East Canje, Berbice, revealed that it may have been electrical in origin. The disaster, which left eight persons homeless, occurred at a time when no one was at home and the area was not easily accessible to the Guyana Fire Service (GFS), he said.
Semple said the tenders had some difficulty getting there and, at the scene, the building was already engulfed.
But the firemen doused the flames and contained it to that structure as the occupying family was attending church some distance and had to be alerted by a cellular phone call.
The victims arrived at the location only to see their worldly possession destroyed and they were unable to save anything.
Another conflagration, also on Sunday, at Lot 528 ‘D’ Field, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, displaced seven more persons.
The Fire Chief said that might have resulted from arson or possibly electricity theft, as the property is disputed but investigations are ongoing.
Gentle said the house did not have a legitimate connection to receive current but there were several electrical appliances in it.
Reports said a man had lived in the two-storey with two women, one the mother of his current.
The 10:30hrs catastrophe consumed the  entire edifice and things inside and damaged a motor car.
For this year, several fires burnt houses and left other people dead and homeless.
On May 24, siblings Julius, 5 and Josiah, 4, were burnt to death in their home at 18th Street, Dazell Housing Scheme, East Coast Demerara. The cause of the blaze that led to their tragic demise is still unknown.
Hazel Johnson, 52, of Lot 30 Stanleytown, New Amsterdam, also in Berbice, perished in her two-storey on June 8.
Following an alarm, at 20:30 hrs, attempts to rescue the partly blind women proved futile as she was trapped amidst intense heat and flames.
On June 13, elderly pensioner Morgan Jagai suffered a similar fate where he lived alone, at Bloomfield, Corentyne, also Berbice.
His charred remains were recovered after the 02:30hrs tragedy.