A Saturday afternoon fire in Castello Housing Scheme that swept through three houses, completely demolishing them and scorching two others, has left a total of 24 persons homeless.
The Fire Service was summoned to the scene just before 12 noon on Saturday as an alarm was raised when the fire was first spotted in two-story concrete and wooden building that housed a church and an apartment. The Fire Service suspects that the origin of the fire was electrical.
Within minutes, the fire quickly hopscotched its way to the two nearby wooden houses as the fire men battled to contain the blaze.
With the assistant of neighbours, some of the homeowners were able to save some of their belongings, putting them to the side of the roadway.
One of the victims, Lennox Jones, broke down in tears as he gazed at his house up in flames. He explained that he spotted his neighbour’s house on fire and immediately raised an alarm, calling out to some the tenants in his house.
He said at first he assisted the neighbours, to remove things from their home but within minutes the fire made its way to his house.
“I ran into my middle room, pull the blind and I saw the smoke coming from Brother George house. I ran downstairs and by the time I ran over by Brother George house nobody was there, all I know the tenants were downstairs, they started to break down the gate and they weren’t getting through. So, I ran back home and my wife said Lennox don’t go upstairs, the smoke coming all over” Jones recalled.
The man said although with the assistance of other, he pulled the gas cyclinders from the house, he still watched on helplessly as the fire reached his house.
Some residents said the Fire Service could have done a better job to contain the blaze to the house where it started, but the afternoon windy conditions did more harm than good in the efforts to put the fire out.
Home Affairs Minister Robeson Benn who was at the scene, said Saturday was an extremely difficult day for the Fire Service, as they also found themselves battling three other fires in Georgetown and along the East Coast Demerara.
“I’m satisfied given the challenges, the Fire Services have had this morning there was a fire at Melanie, where additional units were dispatched and there was a fire in Kitty, where several units responded, there was also a garbage fire near Bourda ground that the Fire Service responded to. So, there weres four fires for the day so the challenge is to keep the units with water and to be ready to respond to multiple fires”, Benn said.
The Minister admitted that there is a clear need for fire hydrants to be rehabilitated and for new ones to be placed around the city, to better assist the Fire Service in getting its work done.
As the Saturday afternoon fire was completely extinguished, those affected sat at the side of the busy roadways contemplating their next move and the need to start over.
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