Mystery fire leaves West Berbice family homeless

Aug 26, 2013 News

A family of five was left homeless on Saturday after a fire of unknown origin destroyed their two-storey wooden and concrete house at Lot 13,

The gutted building.

Number Five Village, West Coast Berbice. Homeless are 38 year old miner, Sereste George, his wife 32 year old Felicia George and their three children ages 15, 10 and six. The distraught couple stated that they moved into the well-furnished house just over one and a half years ago. The couple said that they operate a shop on the bottom flat and suffered millions in losses. According to the couple, they were traveling to Georgetown in their car and had reached Mahaicony at around 08:30 hrs when they got a call from someone who said that their house was in fire. They immediately turned back but by the time they arrived the building had already been destroyed. Residents say they saw “a ball of fire” in the couple’s room in the upper flat before the flames spread. Kaieteur News was told that the two younger children were at home when the fire started. The eldest, 15-year-old Naiomi Martin, had just left the house to go and buy bread from a nearby shop. The girl said that she was returning from the shop when a neighbour told her that the house was on fire. She said that she dropped the bread and money and ran towards her burning home, but neighbours collected her and took her to safety. According to Naomi, her 10 year old sister and six year old brother were playing in the yard when she had left for the shop. Ms. Felicia George stated that October would have been two years since they built the house and moved in after getting married. The land was a donation from her grandmother. Her husband, Seretse George who is a miner in the Mahdia area, lamented that he worked very hard to acquire what he had. The couple said that television sets, a washing

The distraught family.

machine, computers, furniture, and newly-purchased text books and school uniforms were destroyed. Ms. George stated that she also lost some cash in the fire. The couple had painted and installed electricity in the top flat and were in the process of doing the same in the bottom flat. They had planned to insure the house when that chore was completed. According to Ms. George, nothing was left alight. But Felicia George recalled that a few Sundays ago she and a neighbour had a misunderstanding and the woman “went down on her knees on the street, and said that something will happen to us and plenty people will come.” Meanwhile, some residents alleged that construction workers who are repairing a bridge in the Bath area delayed a fire truck for about ten minutes because they refused the vehicle a pass immediately. In the meantime, residents had used buckets in a futile attempt to extinguish the fire.