An East Berbice, Corentyne family of five were left in a state of shock and disbelief after being forced to watch helplessly as their life long earnings go up in flames on Thursday afternoon.
The Jaundoo’s of Lot 279 Ankerville, Port Mourant, East Berbice Corentyne, were rendered speechless as their business and residence was reduced to rubble following a fire of unknown origin a little after noon on Thursday.
According to Tejpattie Jaundoo, the proprietor of the home, she was downstairs when she heard a strange noise from the upper flat of the two storey, wooden and concrete building.
“I was downstairs and me hear a crackling sound then like something popping so me run upstairs to see what was happening and me reach one big ball a fire by the bedroom,” she said.
The distraught woman recalled that she was shocked and managed to three children and an adult who were at home at the time.She screamed for help as she ran out the house for safety, unable to grab anything of value.
Neighbours and passersby rushed to render assistance by forming a bucket brigade to help quell the inferno that quickly engulfed the building and began raging ferociously being fueled with lots of flammable items from the grocery store that was housed on the lower
flat.
The residents breathed a sigh of relief when the fire tender attached to the Rose Hall Town Fire station arrived shortly but their relief was short lived as the firemen experienced several issues.
Firstly, there was an issue with getting the truck to access water from the nearby trench, and when that seemed to have been resolved, the water pump refused to start and a secondary pump that was to be used had to be powered by a generator that suddenly experienced mechanical issues.
The residents however were very cooperative and industrious and managed to use their own pumps, pressure washers and buckets to help stop the spread of the fire from spreading to two neighbouring houses.
A short while later a fire tender from New Amsterdam arrived followed by a smaller one from the Albion Estate but by then the entire building was already destroyed.
Speaking briefly with the media at the scene,Divisional Commander for the Guyana Fire Service, Hemchandra Persaud,commended the efforts of the residents in saving the neighbouring houses. He noted that the cause of the fire is unknown but from his reports it appears to have been started in a bedroom in the upper flat.
The building was powered solely by solar power and the property was valued over $22M.. The grocery business was added to the lower flat a little over a year ago.
Investigations are ongoing.
