A fire of unknown origin yesterday razed a two-bedroom cottage at lot 29 Farm, East Bank Essequibo leaving two persons homeless. 

The fire was spotted by neighbours around 16:10 hrs and the fire department was immediately summoned, but the building being small, and fanned by the wind was ravaged very quickly.
The building was owned and occupied by Neville Duncan, 74, a farmer and his wife, who at the moment, are both at Port Kaituma. Duncan who is engaged in farming activities at Port Kaituma, would return home from time to

time, bringing agricultural produce to market.
Duncan’s sister-in-law, Nafleen Phillips and her son Seon who live next door, said His last trip was made the day after Father’s Day, and ever since then, the building had been locked up. Hence, it remains a mystery, how the fire started. She said that when the alert was sounded and they looked across, the building was already well alight.
Neighbours rushed to the rescue, and Seon attempted dousing the burning building with buckets of water, but it was an exercise in futility, since he was overpowered by the raging flames.
The woman claimed that on more than one occasion persons had broken the house and stolen household items, adding, “But, this gone to the highest extent. Who can set fire now?”
She said they were inside their home and only heard neighbours shouting, “House ah bun. House ah bun!” All they could do was look on helplessly.
In the process, a power line connected to the burning building burst, and was dancing wildly on the ground, keeping villagers at bay. The Guyana Power and Light (GPL) were alerted and shut the power off, and later deployed a crew to attend to the problem.
Nafleen recalled that Duncan’s home was constructed about 15 years ago.

(By Shirley Thomas)