A 52-year-old nurse jumped from the veranda of her two-storey concrete
home in the wee hours of the morning of Boxing Day to save her life after
the building became engulfed in flames.

Claudia Ross, a nurse of Second Street, Limlair Village, East Berbice, Corentyne, said she was awakened around 04:30hrs to the sound of her brother, who resides in the lower-flat, frantically calling out to her.

“I heard my brother shouting for me, so I jumped up and want to know
what happened; and as I come out the bedroom, I see a big ball of fire in the hall. I run to the door but the fire was too much and I could not open the locks, so I run to the front and just jump off the veranda,” the nurse related.

Looking back at the approximately 14-foot jump, Ross said she is very
thankful for life and to be miraculously injury-free.

“I was going to jump on the shed but the wires were sparking, so I
figured I would get shock, so I just jump down. If you ask me to make
that jump now I can’t make it; I am just happy for life, maybe God is
testing me,” Ross said.

She recalled falling asleep on the phone around 21:00 hrs the night
before but got up around 01:00 hrs to go to the washroom when she took
off the lights and checked the house before locking up and retiring
properly to bed. The nurse is unaware of what may have caused the fire which
appeared to have started in the hallway in the upper-flat of the house.

The fire completely destroyed the six-bedroom building and badly
scorched the neighbouring three-bedroom house to the west, leaving
millions in damage.

Meanwhile, Dale Kyte– a neighbour– said she awoke around 04:30 am after
feeling intense heat and when she looked out her window, she saw
her back neighbour’s house on fire and quickly alerted family members.
“After I wake up and start screaming, her brother who lives downstairs
run out with the family and we all keep calling out for Gaskin, but she
ain’t waking up, so he run up the step and start knock on the wall a
couple a times,” Kyte said.

By this time, villagers had started a bucket brigade but were unable
to quell the fire, but quick thinking by the residents to use sand instead managed to save the Kyte’s house.

She shared the home with her elderly mother and several others.
“The entire house had to be emptied; we first got my mother to safety
and then focused on saving some stuff, but most were damaged… the glass
door on the verandah was also shattered with the heat and the wires in
the house melted,” the woman said.

The families are thankful to God for being alive. According to Ross, had the fire service responded promptly, it would have been able to save the lower flat of the building.
The Ross family is appealing to the public for help to rebuild their lives. Persons interested in helping can contact them on telephone number 690-0434.