By Bebi Shafeah Oosman
TWO houses were completely destroyed by a mid-morning fire on Friday at Sheet Anchor Village, East Canje, Berbice, leaving two families displaced and counting millions in losses.
The fire reportedly began at the home of Jeffrey Fraser before quickly spreading to the neighbouring property owned by Phulmattie Madramootoo.
According to Madramootoo, she was preparing a meal when she noticed smoke coming from next door. She said she immediately rushed outside and saw flames engulfing Fraser’s house.
The woman related that with the assistance of a neighbour they were able to rescue Fraser’s four-year-old son, who had reportedly been locked inside the house at the time of the blaze.
Madramootoo said her three-bedroom home, which she shared with her son, had recently undergone several renovations, all of which were destroyed in the fire. The distraught woman said she is now uncertain about what steps to take next.
Officer-in-Charge of the Guyana Fire Service in Region Six, Clive McDonald, said the fire service received a report at approximately 11:57hrs and immediately dispatched two fire tenders to the location.
Meanwhile, an 84-year-old eyewitness known as “Aunty Betty,” claimed that the fire was deliberately set. Recounting the incident, she said a young man alerted her to the blaze and rushed to rescue the child trapped inside the burning house.
“The boy next door run and say, ‘Aunty Betty look fire deh over deh,’ and when he run over deh a child deh in the house ah cry because the door had lock from outside hook on, so he take out the lock and he take out the child and bring he and put he pon the road and the father come and collect the child and he gone,” the elderly woman recalled.
Investigations into the cause of the fire are in progress.