-Ms.Yvonne Pearson among seven homeless

A fire of undetermined origin on Wednesday displaced seven persons of two families after their rented house was destroyed at lot 35 Vryheid’s Lust Public Road, East Coast Demerara.

The house is located in the compound of the Ephraim Scott Memorial Presbyterian Church.
Glen Baptiste, who occupies the lower flat of the building, said he was not at home when the conflagration started but was alerted to the blaze by a neighbour.
He stated that at the time he was at his roadside stall, a short distance away when thick smoke was observed billowing from the upper flat of the building.
He had been occupying the bottom flat for the past eight months at Vryheid’s Lust Public Road with his wife while the upper flat was reportedly occupied by Adviser to the Minister of Amerindian Affairs, Ms. Yvonne Pearson and four other persons.
Relatives of Ms. Pearson refused to comment but were observed crying as they spoke on their cell phone. They too were not at home when the fire reportedly started in a room in the upper flat of the building at about 13:30hrs.
Baptiste said that he hurried to the scene and managed to take out a set of chairs and his music system before he exited the building.
Some painters, who were working on a house nearby, said they heard some sounds and then saw smoke which was quickly followed by fire which ripped through the top flat within minutes.
The Guyana Fire Service (GFS) responded with a fire tender and contained the blaze to that building; but the upper flat was completely gutted while the bottom flat was damaged and water-soaked.
Chief Fire Officer Marlon Gentle said that fire investigators are still probing the cause of the fire.
Meanwhile, Ms. Pearson, former head of the National Toshaos’ Council, told reporters that she got a call at about 13:00hrs that her home had gone up in flames.
She added that the house was being rented to two families by the Board of Directors of the Ephraim Scott Memorial Presbyterian Church which is also located in the compound.
The family of six could not give an immediate estimate of their losses but all of Ms. Pearson’s life savings are gone as well as her personal documents such as birth, marriage and other certificates and some amount of jewellery, among other things.

(By Michel Outridge)