A FAMILY of six, including four children, is now homeless after a fire totally destroyed their home at lot 16 One Mile, Wismar, Linden on Monday. Dorette Higgins lived with her father Curtis Higgins and she is now wondering what the future holds for her and her children, the youngest being two years old.

Higgins told this publication on Tuesday that she was not home when the fire started, but was told by her son that he and his siblings were in the bedroom when he felt his nostrils burning. His sister then got up and realised smoke was coming from the bedroom and it was then that the children ran away.

When the Guyana Chronicle visited the scene on Tuesday, the immediate neighbour related that she was on her way home when she was told by one of the children that the house was on fire. She then raised an alarm to the neighbours but it was too late to save anything but a washing machine that was behind the back door. The neighbour said she made phone calls to the 911 emergency three times before the fire tender arrived, but it was too late.

Dorette said that she believes the fire is of electrical origin, since a few says ago the lights came off and the refrigerator stopped working. She and her children spent the night at her mother’s one-bedroom house and are now at an apartment that has no water or electricity. “Right now I just feel to scream out to God, as to what next, me and my children just sit down here wondering what next,” Higgins said.
Since the fire, no regional authority has reached out to her to lend a helping hand, Higgins revealed, while expressing hope that someone would come to her family’s aid.