– Chief Fire Officer

ARSON is suspected in the fire which gutted a flat concrete dwelling at Lot 777 Belle West Housing Scheme, West Bank Demerara, on Tuesday night, leaving the lone occupant displaced.

One neighbour, Inez Pattiram, told the Chronicle that it was about 21:00 hrs Tuesday when they were alerted to the fire by other neighbours, who saw flames coming from one of the bedrooms in the house.

She said they alerted the Guyana Fire Service (GFS) and then formed a bucket brigade but the raging flames consumed the building within about 30 minutes.

The woman added that the lone occupant, identified as Shellon Glue, was not at home when the fire started. She left a few months ago for a job in the interior but her children would normally visit to check on the place and they were there on Monday.

Pattiram said she is the caretaker of the property and would collect the rent from the occupant, who was renting from the Guyanese owners, who reside in Trinidad and Tobago.

She could not say how the conflagration started since the house is without electricity and no one was in the building when the fire started.

The woman stated that the owners left Guyana several years ago after securing a loan from a city bank to construct the house.

Pattiram told this publication that the GFS arrived on the scene with two fire tenders and doused the flames, preventing it from spreading to nearby houses.

In the meantime, Chief Fire Officer Marlon Gentle said arson is not ruled out and a probe is underway.

(By Michel Outridge)