FIRE on the Essequibo Coast in Region 2 destroyed a two-storey wooden and concrete building in Westbury Housing Scheme at around 00:45 hrs on Friday and in the process left five persons, including a child, homeless. The four-bedroom house was reportedly well-furnished, but was completely gutted before the Guyana Fire Service (GFS) water tender arrived on the scene. Nothing was saved, and losses are estimated at $4M.

Twenty-three-year-old Ms Frantasia Stephen, a former occupant of the home, said her mother who lives at Charity had owned the building. According to Ms Stephen, at the time of the fire, she and her common-law husband Jervin Clarke, along with her sister, nephew and a child, had to run out of the building as the fire spread rapidly.
Stephen said she had gone out with her cousin earlier in the night, and had returned home just after midnight, whereupon she became engaged in a heated argument with her partner, Clarke, during which the house suddenly became alight with flames as if it had been deliberately torched. Everyone had to run to safety as the fire consumed the building.
Fanned by a strong, steady wind form the nearby Atlantic Ocean, the flames scorched a nearby house and destroyed a number of glass panes on four windows. Several sucker and cane plants, along with coconut trees, were also seriously damaged by the intense heat of the fire.
A neighbour known as” Chim” said several persons at a wake house heard cracking sounds like things breaking up, and rushed to see what was happening, only to discover the house on fire. A large crowd gathered at the scene, and many tried to throw water from drains on the burning building, but the fire devoured the building regardless.
The Guyana Fire Service and the Police are currently investigating the cause of the fire.