A FAMILY of four is now homeless after a fire gutted their South Ruimveldt Park home early on Sunday morning.

Reports are that the fire started sometime around 01:30hrs in a bedroom at the upper flat of the home at the corner of Spurwing Drive and Aubrey Barker Street. The house belonged to Sybil Baird.

The woman’s son-in-law, Lincoln Thomas, who has been operating a shop at the bottom-flat of the house for decades, told the Guyana Chronicle that his sister-in-law heard a noise in a bedroom and shortly after, she smelled something burning. On checking, the family members observed a curtain on fire and they decided to drench the area with water.
However, the fire was beyond the family members who were forced to flee the burning building.

Thomas said two fire tenders arrived promptly at the scene and managed to contain the flames to the upper flat of the building; he said that there was minimal damage to his shop. As such, he was able to re-open his shop for business several hours later.
The fire is being investigated by the Guyana Fire Service.