By Svetlana Marshall
A massive fire in James Street, Albouystown ripped through four buildings this afternoon, reducing them to rubble, while damaging several other buildings despite the best efforts of the Guyana Fire Service.
The devastating fire, which almost flattened half of a block on James Street between Albouys Street and Hill Street, erupted just before 3:00pm.
A number of families are now homeless.
26-year-old Kelly-ann Andrews, who is among those affected, said she is heartbroken having lost all of her belongings. She is a mother of three.
She told reporters that she was asleep and woke up to crackling sound of the flames.
The woman and her three young children lived in one of the apartments in the second building that caught fire.
“I wake up in the fire. Yes, I wake up in the fire. Is people on the road was calling for me and then I ran out. Me, son was sleeping with me, the rest ah children gone to school,” Andrews said.
Another victim – a 22-year-old mother of two children – said she left home around 2:00pm to visit her mom, and shortly after she received a call that her home was on fire.
“I cook and I gone by my me mother and me cousin call me and tell me you see the fire and I said no. and when I run, then I see, everything gone. This is a week now I rent this place, is not long I come in this place and everything gone,” the woman said as she broke down in tears.
The young mother has two sons.
Azeem Dyal – a 31-year-old father of one arrived on the scene to see his home already reduced to ashes by the inferno. The construction worker said he was at work when he was alerted to the blaze. His son was at school at the time.
“They ain’t tell me fully what happened but they say somebody been burning copper around the place. So, it start like that,” Dyal said.
Another affected resident, identified as Cheryl Layne, lived in one of the buildings with her son. She said she was awakened from an afternoon nap by the heat from the flames and hurried out of the house.
At the scene of the fire, Divisional Fire Officer, Otis Charles, said the Guyana Fire Service deployed a total of six fire tenders from the Central Fire Station, Eccles and Albertown to the scene immediately after receiving the emergency calls.
Charles said by the time the firefighters arrived on the scene, one of the wooden buildings was already consumed by the fire.
“When we arrived one building was fully engulfed in flames, and another was already starting to catch, so we immediately got into firefighting mode. We are right now trying to salvage the other buildings around, other than the building of origin, where you have branches surround the entire block,” he said.
The firefighters sourced water from open sources as well as from a fire hydrant in the area.
Ranks of the Guyana Police Force and EMTs were also dispatched to the scene of the blaze to render assistance.
The Guyana Fire Service has launched an investigation to determine the cause of the fire, as those left homeless find try to find comfort at family and friends this evening.
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