FIVE days after the burning to death of a Cummings Lodge family over the weekend, the Guyana Fire Service is nowhere closer to solving the case.

The lives of 46-year-old Martin Lewis, his wife, Beverly Miller, 40, and their 14-year-old son, Dawall Ifill, were snuffed out when fire, of as yet unknown origin, swept the Sixth Street Cummings Lodge apartment building in which the trio lived on the lower East Coast late last Saturday, burning it to cinders and rendering some 12 to 13 other tenants homeless.

Word is that the Guyana Fire Service is not yet done with their investigation, and is working to confirm whether the fire was indeed deliberately set, as is suspected.

When contacted on Thursday afternoon, Fire Chief Marlon Gentle confirmed that the investigation into the fire is still ongoing, while reports are rife that the apartment in which the family lived was so heavily grilled that there was no escaping its confines in a hurry. The fire reportedly started in an apartment on the upper flat of the building, while the three deceased lived on the lower flat.

Gentle also disclosed that a tenant, who is alleged to have threatened the owner of the apartment building and their representative is in custody, assisting the police with their investigation.

“There were some allegations about threats because of non-payment of rent… so it was some kind of confrontation between the tenant and the person who is supposed to be the landlord, or representative of the landlord,” the fire chief explained. He also confirmed that the matter is being treated as suspected arson.

Reports are that close to 15 persons occupied the complex, and since the building was completely destroyed, all of them have been rendered homeless.

Commander of Division ‘A’ of The Guyana Police Force, Senior Superintendent Phillip Azore told the Guyana Chronicle that the individual that was initially fingered as a person of interest in relation to the mater has been released on bail, as the GFP awaits the complete report from the GFS on the matter.

The Guyana Chronicle made several attempts to contact family members of the deceased to ascertain how they are coping with the loss of their loved ones but was unsuccessful.