A FIRE of unknown origin on Thursday afternoon completely destroyed a two -storey house in Cato Street, Agricola, leaving a family of five homeless.The fire, which started at approximately 16:50hrs, reportedly began in the lower-flat of the house and quickly spread to the upper-flat, completely destroying the property.

The occupants of the house, Mickesha Marcus, 23, and her reputed husband Sherwin Alstrom, along with their three children: aged five, three and one were not at home when the fire started.

A distraught Marcus, who was holding her youngest child, told Guyana Chronicle that she was at a nearby house when she was informed that the house was on fire.
“I ain’t went home so I ain’t know…” the teary eyed 23-year-old mother told Guyana Chronicle.

Marcus said she has been living at the location for quite some time and never experienced any electrical problems there. She said the only appliance that was plugged in when she left her home earlier in the day was the refrigerator.

“Is only the fridge was plugged in, nothing else…I ain’t get to save nothing, all my things, even my money, my children clothes, nothing,” said the sobbing woman as she looked at her youngest child, who was positioned on her left hip.

As firemen battled the fierce fire that escalated due to heavy winds, tears flowed down the young mother’s eyes.
“I ain’t got nowhere to go,” she said as she wept, but noted that she could not estimate the losses as the property was not hers, but a relative who resides in the US.

She disclosed that the house was fully furnished.

“My chirren ain’t even got clothes,” the distressed woman said as she looked a short distance away where her reputed husband was providing information to members of the Guyana Fire Service to aid in their investigations.

Sherwin Alstrom, 38, who has lived at 151 Cato Street, Agricola all his life was hard hit by the fire.

He told reporters that he is a horse cart operator and was in the village gathering feed for his horse when he was told that his house was on fire.

“I went up the road, I did doing me lil work what I does do every day. I does work horse cart so I was rounding up my feed and them thing and I deh up the road and a big woman tell me the house on fire. By the time I run and come the whole downstairs, upstairs everywhere full in fire.”

DUCKS DISAPPEAR
The distraught man said he also rears poultry for a living and lost a few ducks as a result of the fire. He, like his reputed wife Marcus, maintained that they have never experienced electrical problems.
“We never had electrical problems… nobody din cook, everybody been outside, me girl been plaiting me neighbour hair and I deh looking after me animal,” Alstrom said.

He, like Marcus, could not estimate the loss, but said, “I had every lil thing in ma home… every lil thing I had, every lil thing gone. Is nah fuh sey I deh inside or them chirren deh inside playing, dem ain’t got nothing, deh low for them chirren play with—everything deh high. One child went with me and two with dem mother …can’t sey dem went inside playing with nothing.”

While he was unsure of his next move, the father of three said his family will find somewhere to lay their heads.

Meanwhile, Divisional Officer of the Guyana Fire Service, Colin Sparman, told reporters that at approximately 16:50hrs, the Fire Service received a call indicating that a house was on fire at Agricola. Three vehicles were immediately dispatched, one from West Ruimveldt and two from the central fire station. The three vehicles contained approximately 3500 gallons of water.
“When we arrived here the entire building was engulfed in flames and it was threatening the building close to the north… immediately we went into firefighting operations and tried to stop the fire from spreading.

“Because it is a wooden building and because of the high wind at this time, the fire spread rapidly and we had to put systems in place to ensure we cut it off before it went further. The two buildings that were threatened was one to the east and the other to the north,” Sparman explained.

The fire was eventually suppressed and confined to the building of origin.
The building north of the destroyed six-bedroom house was damaged, and the occupants with the help of the firefighters, were observed fetching buckets of water to cool the building as inside contained heavy smoke.