– millions of dollars worth in fertilizer, household items burnt

NINE persons are homeless following a fire that destroyed the home of a rice farmer from Windsor Castle Village on the Essequibo Coast Thursday morning.

The fire, suspected to be of electrical origin, started in the family bedroom in the upper flat around 09:15hrs. The two-storey home is owned by rice farmer Harryanand Parmanand. He was not at home at the time of the fire. The house is at the back of the land while in front has some huge sheds which house tractors and combines.

The man’s daughter-in-law, Nadira Parmanand, told the media that she was downstairs when her son, Vishwa Parmanand, shouted for her. “My son shouted, ‘mommy, mommy, come see there is fire in the bedroom where the electrical switch is’.” By that time we could not save anything but our lives; we started to run,” the woman related.
She said that the house was occupied by several families for years now. “Since I marry and come here, we living here; two families with my father-in-law; one family live downstairs and one upstairs” she further related.

Nadira related that they tried to call the Anna Regina Fire Station several times but did not get through and by the time they did, the entire upper flat was engulfed in flames. She said that persons from around the community also tried and after 15 minutes, then someone got through to the Fire Station.
Firefighters then arrived 45 minutes later, but by then all the household items were burnt.
Assessing their losses the daughter-in- law said that millions went up in flames, singling out that hundreds of bags of fertilizers were soaked in the process. She said they had cash as well as jewellery also in the house. The house was well furnished and had basic amenities. Her husband cultivates rice lands on a large scale and had pressure wash, pumps and other farming equipment which were all burnt.

Holding back tears, the woman said that she could not imagine that a day would come when she would watch her house in flames. She was consoled by neighbours. When asked where they would seek refuge, the woman said that she was clueless but most likely by a relative. A neighbour, Lucknauth Bachhanoon, said he smelt smoke and upon looking, he saw the Parmanands home on fire. Bachanoon said when he looked outside he saw his gutter was scorched. Meanwhile, at the scene, a senior Fire Officer, Shannon Crawford, said that the Anna Regina Fire station responded immediately after the call was received. Crawford said that while an investigation has been launched into the cause of the fire, it is suspected to be electrical in origin.