Around 30 homeless in Plaisance blaze
Fire destroys a building located on Victoria Road, Plaisance  (Samuel Maughn photo)
Fire destroys a building located on Victoria Road, Plaisance (Samuel Maughn photo)

APPROXIMATELY 30 persons are homeless following a fire which destroyed three buildings and damaged two others located on Victoria Road, Plaisance, East Coast Demerara (ECD) on Friday.

Fire Prevention Officer Andrew Holder (Samuel Maughn photo)

The fire of unknown origin reportedly started at 14:19hrs in the lower flat of what used to be Abiola’s Hotel, but was converted to an apartment building. That property reportedly housed more than 20 persons, none of whom were at home at the time of the fire. The Guyana Chronicle understands that the fire quickly spread through the three buildings housed in the same yard and caught onto neighbouring buildings south and north of the destroyed premises.

Rowena Glasgow, an occupant of the lower flat of the apartment building told reporters that she had just left home to travel to the city to observe the country’s 48th Republic celebrations. While in a taxi at the Kitty gas station, the woman, who is a seamstress, said she received a call from her daughter who told her the apartment was on fire.

A distraught Rowena Glasgow ponders her next move after learning that the apartment in which she lived at Victoria Road, Plaisance, was destroyed by fire on Friday. (Samuel Maughn photo)

“I let the taxi turn right back and I came home. I lost everything, everything again for the second time,” the distraught woman stated. Years ago, a previous place of residence occupied by Glasgow and her children was destroyed by fire. The woman who gave her address as 41 Ben Profit Drive, Plaisance, said she lives alone and estimates that the apartment building has about 15 different rooms, which are occupied by other tenants. That aside, she explained that there are two other buildings to the back of the apartment building which were also completely destroyed.

“I am a seamstress and I had a lot of work for National Library and other places,” said the crying woman, who explained that her apartment was fully furnished but she could not estimate her losses. Her money, jewellery, documents and other possessions were all destroyed in the fire.

Keith Chester, a resident of the destroyed apartment building (Samuel Maughn photo)

Glasgow told reporters that she had unplugged all of her electrical appliances before leaving home and as far as she knows, there were no prior electrical problems. Vernon Class, a barber who works upstairs of the Bourda Post Office, told reporters that he was at work when he got the call. The shocked man said he lived in a separate building to the back of the apartment building. He did not have many details about the fire, but indicated that his losses are substantial as he and his wife had just completed renovations to the property and had bought new electronic appliances.

“I got a call and my wife told me the house was on fire,” said Class, a now distraught father of three children aged five, four and nine. “I can’t estimate my losses– I had everything…I moved in there for Christmas and made some new purchases,” the barber told reporters.

Meanwhile, Keith Chester, a resident of the apartment building for approximately 10 years, explained that just before the fire started, he had just arrived from the interior. He told reporters that upon his arrival, he took his luggage up to his apartment and left to purchase drinks for his friends whom he did not see for about five months. “A boy came to me and told me there is fire upstairs by me. I run upstairs trying to find out if is by my apartment; there was no fire,” he said. But as Chester tried to access certain parts of his apartment, he realised smoke was coming from the lower flat.

An anxious Stacy Richards looks on as firefighters and residents of Plaisance work to prevent her house from being damaged. She is being consoled by relatives and friends (Samuel Maughn photo)

“I just collected my documents to put myself in order to get my money but I lost everything,” he stated. A neighbour, Shirley Cummings, who owns a nearby shop said she and other residents of the community were alerted by shouts of smoke and fire. They immediately collected buckets and fetched water to assist in outing the fire.

Stacy Richards, who lives with her husband, was thankful that her flat wooden house located south of the destroyed buildings was not completely destroyed. The woman told reporters that she was on Vlissengen Road observing the annual float parade when she received a call from a neighbour informing her that there was a big fire near her home. She had left her home an hour and a half before the fire started.

Residents lined Victoria Road, Plaisance, as firefighters battled to out a fire which destroyed three buildings and damaged two others. (Samuel Maughn photo)

Luckily, her house was only scorched and suffered water damage. “I immediately called my husband…thank god he was home still. He was able to mobilise persons to save our home. There are a few minor damages [sic] internally,” Richards stated.

Fire Prevention Officer Andrew Holder told reporters that the Fire Service received a report of a fire in Plaisance at 14:19hrs and arrived approximately six minutes after.
“When we got here this building, a very old building that use to be a hotel and was converted into an apartment building, was fully engulfed. There wasn’t much to be salvaged from it. Immediately we went into firefighting mode, trying to save neighbours and nearby buildings,” he stated.

However, the operation by the firefighters was affected by the lack of water, the direction of the wind and the growing crowd along the street. This resulted in the building immediately south of the properties located at lots 40-41 Victoria Road, Plaisance being severely damaged. That house reportedly belongs to the Hetsbergers. According to reports, the destroyed two-storey concrete structure was recently renovated by that family.

Firefighters spray water to a building located north of the destroyed apartment (Samuel Maughn photo)

“What I can tell you for now is that three buildings are involved, two completely damaged, one slightly and we are now in mopping-up mode,” said Holder, who was not in a position to state the cause of the fire.

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