A MAN and his grandson are now homeless after a fire, believed to be electrical in origin, gutted the upper flat of their 74 D’Urban Street, Wortmanville home on Monday morning.

The occupants of the house are 68-year-old Lennox Smith, and his 27-year-old grandson, David Harbin, a clerk at the Georgetown Public Hospital Cooperation (GPHC).
Smith said that he was at the hospital for an appointment when he received several calls from unknown numbers. It was only on recognising the name of one of the callers that he answered the call, only to be told that his home was on fire.
“I left my grandson home and I went [to the hospital]; I had a medical appointment this morning, and it’s at the doctor I got this call saying the house on fire,” Smith recounted to the media.

Smith’s grandson, Harbin, says when he left home around 07:30hrs, there were no electrical appliances left on, and that prior to the fire, the house had never had electrical issues.
“I had no dealings with gas stove or anything this morning,” Harbin said.
“The points that we use to watch TV, I turned it off from the main switch. When I left, everything was in order; everything.”

Harbin, who says he’d been living in the primarily wooden two-storey house for the past 20 years, estimates that their loss could run into the millions, the fire having consumed two flat-screen televisions among other household furniture and appliances.
Firemen, nonetheless, were quick on the scene, neighbours reported, and were able to contain the blaze, which managed to scorch an adjacent house.

Police officials were also at the scene collecting information from the nearest residents for an investigation into the matter, which has already been launched.