‘Globe Yard’ blaze leaves at least six homeless

Jul 08, 2010 News

Some of the illegal connections removed from the scene.

…exposes countless illegal connections

At least six persons are homeless after a fire of unknown origin broke out in a crowded tenement yard on Waterloo Street early yesterday afternoon.
‘Globe Yard’ which is home to several families, is a line of dilapidated houses stretching along the length of the now defunct Globe Cinema.
As the fire fighters struggled to get their hoses down the crowded alleyway that served as the only access point to most of the homes in the yard, their efforts were not without incident. At least one fire fighter suffered an electric shock from an illegal electrical connection.
Workers from Guyana Power and Light were on the scene to do the usual power cuts to allow the firefighters to do their work.
However they were delayed in the effort to disconnect power to the affected buildings by the number of illegal connections that they encountered.
When asked for an estimate as to how many illegal connections had been removed, the workers said that they had already removed 30 connections so far.
The workers said that they believe that the illegal connections might be a possible culprit for the cause of the fire.
Meanwhile, just as the fire service seemed to have the situation under control an observer alerted them that flames were jumping across to the house on the left. They immediately turned their hoses to contain this new threat.
It is in the last of these houses, that a distraught 34-year-old Tandy Liverpool used to live with her husband and two children.
She was in tears after her home and all of her possessions went up in flames.
She estimated that her losses in the millions of dollars. She said that she had four televisions, a computer, other appliances, cash and jewellery in the house.
She recounted that she left home shortly before 14:00 hrs and received a call not long after telling her that the house was on fire.
She said that she returned immediately and saw the fire tenders arriving at the same time.
According to Liverpool, her children said that the fire started in the kitchen but she had no idea how that could be the case.
She said that there were not that many appliances in the kitchen and she was sure that everything had been turned off before she left the house.
Tandy Liverpool also praised the fire service for their efforts saying that they tried their best to save her home.