‘Miraculous’ wind helps fire fighters contain Kingston blaze

Jun 26, 2020 News

– pensioner’s home destroyed

By Shervin Belgrave

The home of an 81-year-old gardener, Danny Harricharan, was yesterday destroyed by fire.

Danny Harricharan’s destroyed Kingston, Georgetown home.

The man’s home located at 33 Barrack Street, Kingston reportedly caught fire at around 08:15 hrs.
Neighbours, who live nearby, told Kaieteur News that they became aware of the conflagration when they started to smell something burning. One neighbour spoke of stepping outside to investigate the “burning smell” and being alarmed by smoke emanating from the gardener’s home. Within minutes a blaze escalated and the curious neighbour alerted others that the elderly man’s house was on fire. The fire service was immediately contacted and fire fighters arrived at the scene soon after. One neighbour estimated the response to be within 15 minutes.
Neighbours whose houses are in close proximity to the destroyed property said before the fire was contained they were fearful that their property too would have been destroyed.
However, they claimed to witness something miraculous. “A strong wind miraculously blew the flames upwards,” one neighbour said.
The wind, they claimed, isolated the blaze in one area instead of helping to spread it to other houses.
The neighbours praised the fire fighters too for their quick response. “If they did not arrive so quickly then who knows the blaze would have been more catastrophic and destroy more houses,” said one neighbour.
Harricharan, who was not at home when the fire started, told reporters that he left for work at 6:00 hrs. for a three-hour gardening shift. The man was not informed that his house was on fire and only learnt of this development when he returned home and saw fire fighters and neighbours at the scene.
Shocked at the sight of his destroyed two-storey house, the man entered his yard to assess the damage. The 81-year-old estimates his losses to be in excess of $20 million.