FIRE of unknown origin erupted at about 10:30 hrs yesterday and destroyed a three-bedroom apartment at the South Ruimveldt Shopping Plaza, leaving popular musician Campton Williams (Camo), his wife Ingrid Wilkinson, their daughter and three grandchildren homeless.

Quick response from the Guyana Fire Service saved other apartments in the same building from the ravenous effects of the fire, and prevented the day from truly being a Black Friday for several persons.

When the Guyana Chronicle caught up with Camo Williams, he had this to say: “I left the house just about 5-7 minutes, and not long after, I got a call from my wife saying the house on fire; and by the time I rushed home, the whole house was on fire.”

Williams said his wife was in the bathroom and the children were downstairs when the fire started, but whether or not it was an electrical problem is still unknown to him and his family.

“When I left, no electric appliance was left on, and my wife said everything was in check, so I don’t know what could have happened. We just have to wait for the firemen to conduct their investigations so we could know what the source was,” he said.

Williams added that neighbours told him the fire started from his daughter’s bedroom, which is located in the middle of the apartment, and began to spread across the apartment.

Fortunately, no one was injured, and the neighbours were able to save some items from the burning apartment. Williams and his family have, however, suffered a major loss.

Williams noted that his family has been occupying that apartment since the early 1980s and they have never previously been visited by any tragedy of this magnitude. He deemed the incident really unfortunate, but said they’ll have to pull themselves together and try to rebuild and forget about this incident.

Approached for a comment, Ms Wilkinson was too traumatised to speak.

Meanwhile, speaking with members of the media, GFS Divisional Commander Compton Sparman said that at about 10:23 hrs, yesterday, the GFS received a call from three persons, two from Central and one from West, stating that a fire had been spotted in the community.

Compton disclosed that investigations to determine the origin of the fire are still ongoing, but he promised to inform the public when the investigations have been completed.

“The team of firemen should be commended for their quick response, and for preventing the fire from spreading across the entire building,” Mr Sparman said.