AN early morning fire on Thursday destroyed a two story apartment building at lot 34 South Railway Embankment Ogle, East Coast Demerara, leaving seven persons homeless and millions in damage and losses.Owner of the house, Birley Wilson who occupies a section of the building with his family told the Guyana Chronicle that he was alarmed by one of his tenants around 6:45h that there was smoke coming from the back room of the building.

According to the distressed man, he ran upstairs and made a failed attempt to open the door but it was locked. Wilson however managed to save some of his valuables and estimated his losses to be in the millions.

The occupants of the other part the house are Cristal and Shemika Samuels. Cristal told this newspaper that when she woke up, she was greeted with smoke in her apartment. She tried to save her valuables but was unable to do so.

Her sister, Shemika, was at work at the time of the fire; however Shemika told this newspaper that everything was in place at the house when she left for work.

It is alleged that the fire stared in the upper flat of the eastern section of the house.

When the fire tenders arrived at the scene, the building was already engulfed in flames.

The origin of the fire was not determined; however it was observed that the three buildings in the yard share the same GPL power lines. Firefighters were praised for containing the fire to just the house.