A FIRE suspected to be electrical in origin, partially destroyed a two-storey house mid-afternoon on Thursday, leaving four homeless at Second Street, Overwinning, East Bank Berbice.

Those affected by the fire which reportedly occurred just after 14:30hrs, are Hazmon Mohamed, better known as Aunty Dora and her husband Philbert Butcher, who lived on the lower flat of the house; her daughter Sabrina Jaffar, Manager of the New Amsterdam Branch of A.H&L Kissoon, who shared the upper flat with her seven-year-old son, Shumen.

Aunty Dora, a former Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) employee, told the Guyana Chronicle that after relaxing a bit, she went to take a shower, and that it was whilst doing so she heard someone shouting, “Fire! Fire!”
Her husband, who was sitting downstairs in the hammock at the time, also recalled hearing someone shouting, “Aunty Dora! Fire! Fire!”

Said he: “I got up. And whilst looking upwards, saw black, billowing smoke emanating from the back of the upper flat.
“I ran inside and grabbed a bucket in an attempt to extinguish the blaze;but when I threw the water, the fire gushed at me.
“The little boy was attempting to throw too, but we had to retreat.
“Someone called the fire station and they responded timely.”

Picking up the conversation from there, Aunty Dora said she barely managed to pull a dress off the line before hurrying out of the bathroom and running to safety.
Still shaken by the experience, she said: “God really help me; I normally can’t handle stressful situations, but I don’t know where this strength come from. Meh thank God.”

Recalling that her daughter had only that morning sent home a new bottle of cooking gas and some groceries for the upcoming holidays, Aunty Dora said:
“The boy not too long carry up de goods and de gas bottle and dem drinks. The fire destroy all; everything! Dem nah get no clothes! Nut’ing!”

She said that even though the fire did not destroy her furniture, her electrical appliances are irreparably damaged. She also lost quite a bit of clothing and estimated her losses at over $6M.