ALMOST 11 Better Hope residents were temporarily displaced after a “grass fire” quickly escalated on Monday, February 25.

Rahaman Ally was blamed by his neighbours for setting alit several tyres, eventually causing the fire to spread to surrounding grass and even to a neighbour’s fence.
Ally, who owns three lots in Better Hope, allegedly failed to monitor the blaze before it spread.

“The fire started since Friday night…the fire service came that night and then on Saturday the fire start back, but when we called, they said we cannot waste their time”, said Ally’s neighbour Rosana.
The fire service however debunked those claims, noting that they responded on every occasion when they were contacted.

Rosana and 10 of her relatives were temporarily displaced because the smoke made it almost impossible to breathe. The woman’s house was scorched and their fence was destroyed by the blaze. After the fire became more intense, residents alerted the Guyana Fire Service which responded and extinguished the blaze.

Neighbours believe that Ally deliberately lit the fire and will do it again. “He landfills his property with tyres”, Rosana explained, adding previously that Ally threatened to set the land ablaze. Other residents echoed Rosana’s sentiments. They are urging the police to thoroughly investigate the matter.