A FIRE suspected to be electrical in origin completely destroyed the home of a Skeldon family of five Thursday morning.

The fire which started around 10:45hrs, also damaged two other houses situated on both sides of the Lot 46, Rahaman Street, Number 78 Village, East Berbice Corentyne two-storeyed building.

The home belonged to Shaklema Roy and Ramesh Seenarine, who resided there for the past eight years. The family sells food at the market and Shaklema explained that at the time of the inferno, her husband was at the market plying their trade when the tragedy struck. She had just returned after picking up supplies for the next day’s sale when the fire started. She explained that at the time two of their three children were at home with her when they heard crackling sounds from the front room of the upper flat.

“I was downstairs when I hear something sparking, so me follow the sound and realise it coming from upstairs in the front room. When me reach I hear a louder spark right where the bulb and light switch is and the wall catch afire. So me start fuh shout and everybody telling me to get out the house. I grab them two children and run out. By the time me reach outside, the roof cave in and the fire spread more”
She continued that as neighbours called the fire service, the fire quickly engulfed the home and they could not save any of their belongings and instead of trying to extinguish the fire and try to save items, the focus had to be placed on the two neighbouring houses that were quickly catching.

According to Shaklema, the fire has rendered them helpless since all their appliances used for their livelihood, as well as their personal belongings that they spent years to accumulate were destroyed in a matter of minutes. She is appealing to the public for assistance, since they now have to restart their lives from scratch. “We spent years working hard to get where we are today and everything just gone, we would accept anything to help us get back on our feet because we don’t have anything and (the) three children for now gon stay wid family.”

Meanwhile, Lalita Persaud, 35, who lives on the eastern side of the inferno, said she was alerted to the fire by loud shouts of “fire! fire!” by neighbours to the west of the blaze. “I was doing some work and me hear people shouting “fire! fire!” so me run out and me see Shaklema them front room on fire. Me and all start shouting but the place blaze up quickly, so me start fuh panic cause them house deh close close and me done start fuh feel the heat.”

Persaud’s home suffered major damage on the eastern side. The owner Mohan Chertam said all the windows were shattered and had to be replaced, PVC plumbing melted and his concrete walls were cracked with the plaster falling off on some section and part of the roof was burnt. They, however, managed to move some of the household items.

When this publication visited the scene, workers were busy trying to replace the tank and pipes to get water back into the home, while there were females mopping out water and cleaning up the upper flat. Meanwhile, the neighbouring house on the Western side was also scorched due to the intense heat. The owners related that the windows and part of the roof will have to be replaced. The Guyana Fire Service is currently investigating the origin of the fire.