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Rasville fire destroys apartment complex, 42 homeless
Fire destroyed a lot 44-46 Rasville apartment complex leaving 14 families, numbering 42 persons, homeless, and millions in losses.
The fire which occurred on Wednesday, from all reports began about 03:00hrs in a
What remains of lot 44-46 Rasville following the blaze.
bottom flat apartment that was occupied by a tenant named Denver. She was out at the time and lost everything as did every other occupant.
Lee Davis, who has since been dubbed a hero, occupied Apartment 3 on the bottom flat. He said that he heard a knock on his door. When he answered his neighbour, Althea Robinson, who lives above the apartment where the fire started, reported that she felt the floor was a bit hot.
She woke her husband and their three children and ran out. “She said fire in Denver apartment and I run out and tried to open the door by lashing off a lock but when the door fly open the heat and smoke was too much for me to do anything.”
He said he and other tenants tried to fight the fire which had started to spread via the PVC ceiling.
“We get sand and water because we thought was electrical but the efforts were in vain so everybody run out I barely get my keys for my car.”
Jamuca Johnson, who lived in the apartment with her four children, among them a 10-month-old baby and her spouse, said that she smelled smoke and started to investigate.
Some of the victims who lost everything in the fire
“I checked by me and I didn’t see nothing burning. Then I peeped through the window and saw Mr. Davis running with the landlord sister to tell everyone that the house was on fire.”
Her children aged 16 years old to ten months old were asleep and her motherly instinct kicked in when she realized that nothing could be done to save the building.
“I run out to help first then when the fire was more than we could handle I run back inside and wake up me children, grab a sheet and run out with my ten-month-old.” The fire engine was called but after getting no quick response the owner’s sister, Petal, had to drive to the fire station to get the fire tender to head to the scene.
“When they came they started fighting the fire but by that time the gas bottles were already exploding and the building was fully blazing. They tried but it was too late. Everything was already destroyed,” said Oshani Davis.
Davis is a mother of four who had to wake up her children and carry them to safety.
“Luckily no one was injured because we were focused on the safety of the children so people run out in their towels and underwear and so. This is tough because people lost everything. Is millions of dollar gone in expensive things plus one man lost $250,000.”
Inside one of the apartments
Most of the victims applied for land since 2006 and are hoping that the Ministry of Housing would intervene on their behalf. As of yesterday some of the victims of the fire were still rummaging through the debris. The building was owned by a French Guiana-based Guyanese whom the tenants referred to as Junior.
Among the victims was a Guyana Defence Force rank and his wife who had recently started a life together, and an insurance agent.
Yesterday some of the victims visited Food for the Poor Inc. and were offered some interim emergency assistance in the form of foodstuff and some clothing after they submitted their letters of losses from the Guyana Fire Service.
However, much more help is needed. There are more than 20 schoolaged children who have lost all their belongings. (Mondale Smith)
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