-family of three left homeless

By Nafeeza Yahya
FIRE of unknown origin struck just after 02:00hr on Saturday, completely destroying a two-storey house at Bush Lot, Corentyne Coast and leaving a family of three homeless. A nearby house was also severely damaged, leaving the residents there contemplating their losses.Reports are that the fire began in the kitchen, located in the lower flat of the two-storey wooden building, and quickly swept through the entire house. At time of the fire, no one was at home.

Vijai Mahadeo, who resided at the house with his pregnant wife and son, spent the night at his mother’s home. Mahadeo said that by the time he got the call about the fire, it was too late for him to save anything.

“Everything was lost,” he said.

A resident who, with the help of other neighbours, assisted in forming a bucket brigade, said the fire tender took a while to reach the scene, and by that time the house next door was already on fire, so the bucket brigade diverted its energy to save the other home.

He said the fire fighters had difficulty accessing water, and the entire house was engulfed; but after a while, they managed to source some water.

Meanwhile, the neighbour whose house was partially destroyed has estimated her losses in hundreds of thousands of dollars. She said part of the home was saved, since other neighbours formed a bucket brigade and used water from another neighbour’s pool to soak her house.

She said the fire and heat were very intense, and the rear of her home and the kitchen in the lower flat were destroyed. The woman said that after hearing the sound of a vehicle alarm and the shouts of fire, she hurriedly grabbed her two kids, alerted her brother and sister, and they all quickly exited the home.

When this publication visited the scene, family members were assessing their losses, removing the debris, damaged clothing and other articles from the upper flat as they contemplated their next move.