Latest update December 16th, 2024 9:00 AM
Neighbours save 72-year-old granny just in time …as fire destroys Middle Road home
Alert neighbours yesterday managed to save a 72-year-old grandmother from a fiery death when her two-storey, four-bedroom family home went up in flames.
Flames quickly engulfed the two storey building
Shawn Clarke (left) and a colleague removing one of the speaker boxes from the storeroom adjoining the building
Neighbours told this newspaper that at around 13:35 hrs, they observed black smoke coming from the top floor of the building – Lot 202, Middle Road, La Penitence, Georgetown, which was soon replaced by scorching flames. Hearing the screams of the elderly occupant Norma Clarke, neighbours reportedly broke into the home and saved her in the nick of time, since several sections of the entire top flat became totally engulfed in flames the moment they removed her. Sources said the badly shaken and traumatised woman was taken away to stay with relatives.
According to eyewitnesses, two tenders from the Guyana Fire Service arrived shortly after and battled to save the structure, but some said the wooden house was somewhat old, thus it was quickly consumed. In a matter of minutes, the second floor was ablaze, even as residents came running with buckets of water to assist.
The woman’s son, Shawn Clarke, an electrical contractor who was away on a job in the city, resides at the home with six other relatives. He said that he was summoned around 14:05 hrs by a friend who by the way of a cellular phone conversation, informed him that their home was ablaze. When he arrived, he stood speechless for several minutes and stared as the flames raged.
He said that they had lost millions of dollars in furniture, household and electrical appliances, and a very expensive stereo console, amplifiers and many other items. He braved the searing heat and managed to mobilise a few male residents who managed to help him save a few speaker boxes that were in a storage facility that was built in the same yard, but was attached to the ground floor of the building.
Meanwhile, fire officials said that they will have to do routine investigations to ascertain the origin of the fire, but one rank did surmise that it might be of an electrical nature.
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