Latest update January 12th, 2025 3:54 AM
Latest News
- Weak governance often results in failed efforts to transform wealth to prosperity – Natural Resource Governance Institute
- Jagdeo was involved in every aspect of Exxon deal – Glenn Lall
- Israel steps up Gaza attacks amid renewed ceasefire push
- Gov’t to seek loan to build Corentyne River Bridge – Jagdeo
- Over a dozen Guyanese write US EXIM Bank for Gas-to-Energy documents
Family grieves over home lost in Wakenaam fire
By Sunita Samaroo
– “If we had a fire engine it would have saved my home, even a part of it” – Yvette Kumar, fire victim
For 28 years there was a little two-storey home in Free and Easy on the western side of Wakenaam Island, but on Tuesday the walls which held memories for a family of seven was burnt to the ground.
The house engulfed in flames
The Kumar’s house was destroyed when a fire broke out around 08:30hrs that morning while only their caretaker was at home.
Bella, the caretaker, collapsed during the incident but luckily her six children and husband, Guru, were saved from the disaster since they had already left for work/school.
Yvette Kumar, one of six who was raised by her single-mother in that house, is saddened by the incident. She recalled that the house held fond memories for her overseas-based mother and her six children.
“We loved that house so much. It was so important to all of us. My mom bought that house from Belle Plain and we move it on a tractor to Free and Easy 28 years ago. We took care of it and had renovations over the years.”
“Mommy was without a husband, raising the six of us in that home. She made a living from making and selling coconut oil. Mom took her hard earned money and bought the house and we all grew up there. We loved that house, now it’s gone.”
She said that neighbours were the first to contact her about the fire but they couldn’t have even tried to contain it because there was no water available – The main from GWI (Guyana Water Incorporated) had stopped giving water for the day.
“About 8:30, my cousin called me and said the house is in flames. The house was already ablaze. They couldn’t do anything.”
And no fire brigade was on its way.
“My cousin, Debbie, called the police during the fire and they came. They said that they have to get the fire people to come investigate the fire but nobody ain’t come yet. We don’t have a fire station on the island.”
“If we had a ‘fire reel’ it would have saved my home, even a part of it but now we have nothing. It just burnt down flat. “It is really shocking to everybody. It was made with greenheart.”
“That house means so much to us. My mother has been grieving and crying since I told her. It’s not just a house, it’s a home – so much love was shared in that house.”
Kumar claimed that the water and electricity schedule in Free and Easy shattered any hope of the neighbours battling the fire.
She said that the area only gets water and electricity from between 16:00 hours every afternoon to 8:00 hours the next day.
Meanwhile, neighbours recalled hearing “things falling down in the house” but according to them they assumed that it was Bella’s children who often played in the house.
But then one resident noticed the fire and started calling out but no one answered. “Me nah hear nobody answer and I holler fuh me brother. We run to the house but we didn’t see anyone. Bella and a boy been on the extra lot.”
“By then the whole house was in fire and a set of people gather and rush with buckets but we couldn’t do anything.”
The neighbour lamented that perhaps the fire had started a while before they noticed. She said that the occupier had collapsed during the incident.
Similar Articles
THE BLUNT OF THE DAY
Sports
Features/Columnists
Jagdeo’s press conferences are about grievance rather than governance
Peeping Tom… Kaieteur News- When it comes to political irony, Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo has ascended to a position... more
Clarifying misconceptions about the Panama Canal
Sir Ronald Sanders (Antigua and Barbuda’s Ambassador to the US and the OAS) By Sir Ronald Sanders Kaieteur News–... more
Weekend Cartoon
