3 families homeless after fiery Christmas

Dec 28, 2021 News

Kaieteur News – Three families from across the country are now homeless after separate fires ravaged their homes on Christmas Day.
Ravichand Rama called ‘Ravi,’ a 33-year-old Labourer at Albion Estate, his wife Reshma Dindyal, 30 and their three Children, all of lot 193 Ankerville Port Mourant, Corentyne, Berbice are now counting their losses.

The burnt out lot 193 Ankerville Port Mourant, Corentyne home

The affected building is owned by Bangapan Harold of the United States of America.
Reports are that the fire occurred at approximately 17:30 hrs on Christmas Day. Rama disclosed that he along with his family, left home to visit his father-in-law at No.19 Village, Corentyne, at just around noon Christmas Day and that he had secured the home and turned off all electrical and kitchen appliances.
He disclosed that sometime around 14:15hrs, he left his father-in-law’s residence and was visiting a friend of his wife at Albion, Corentyne when he got a call from his neighbour informing him that his house was on fire.
Rama immediately left for his home and upon arrival, saw his house completely engulfed in flames. At that point, he summoned the Rose Hall Town Fire Service, which, shortly after their arrival managed to extinguish the blaze but by then the structure was destroyed.
The building was fully furnished and was not insured. The upper flat of the building consists of three bedrooms and a living room, whilst the lower flat consists of a kitchen, and a lavatory area.
Additionally there were two other fires which destroyed the homes of two families, one in West Ruimveldt, Georgetown and the other in Friendship on the East Coast of Demerara.
Reports stated that around 08:50hrs the Guyana Fire Service (GFS) was summoned to the West Ruimveldt home to attend to a fire, to which they promptly responded and dispatched water tenders 102, 105 and 107 from Central and West Ruimveldt Fire Stations to the home at Lot 169 Rose Street West Ruimveldt.
The purported cause of the fire was said to be a lit mosquito coil which was left unattended.
The coil reportedly ignited with a window curtain and quickly spread throughout the entire building. The one flat wooden and concrete structure and its contents were completely destroyed leaving Jewel Anderson and her family homeless.
Meanwhile, a two storey wooden and concrete structure was also gutted by fire on Christmas Day, as the Fire Service was called upon once again.
According to reports, at 21:32hrs, water tenders 103 and 106 from Melanie and Campbellville Fire Stations responded to a fire at Lot 45 Company Road, Friendship, ECD.
The top floor of the building which was occupied by Estwick Leitch and Edorl Leitch, and the ground floor which was occupied by Carlton Leitch and Odette Cummings set ablaze reportedly by an overloaded electrical circuit.
This resulted in an electrical feedback to the main distribution panel, same arced, sparked and ignited nearby combustible materials.
Also affected by the blaze were two vehicles, one silver grey Honda which was owned by Carlton Leitch and which was completely destroyed and a red and black Honda CG150, owned by Lincoln Leitch, which suffered severe damages to the seat and electrical wiring.