Fire destroys two houses at Agricola

Sep 02, 2022 News

By Shervin Belgrave

The aftermath of the fire that destroyed two houses at Agricola

Kaieteur News – At least three persons on Thursday have been left without a place to live after a fire ripped through two houses at 94 Brutus Street Agricola, East Bank Demerara (EBD).

One of the houses, a two-storey wooden home was completely destroyed-nothing was left but rubble, while the other house, another two-storey building but made of concrete and wood was left gutted and partially standing.

According to eyewitnesses, the blaze erupted close to 15:00hrs and started in the two storey-wooden house first. That home was occupied by two individuals- a young man by the name of “Harry” and “Hodgee”, a man in his 40s described by neighbours as mentally-ill.

One of the eyewitnesses an elderly woman who lived close by recalled that she was alerted of the fire by persons walking through the street. The woman said that she looked outside and saw thick smoke emanating from the building and within seconds the entire house became engulfed in flames.

“The house burn down quick, by time I bow down me head suh and lift it up back again, plenty fire tek ova the whole house,” she recounted. The blaze then reportedly spread quickly to the second two storey building situated beside the burning one and gutted the entire top flat and caused severe damage to the bottom flat occupied by a self – employed woman, Dazzel Boyce, age 51.

When Kaieteur News arrived at the scene, the first house was already destroyed, but the second one was still on fire. Fire fighters were on ground battling the blaze and trying to contain it from spreading further. With the aid of three fire tenders, they were able to extinguish the flames and prevent it from being burnt to the ground. This newspaper learnt

Some of Dazzel Boyce’s damaged clothes“I live upstairs alone and Hodgee (the man described as mentally ill) does deh downstairs”, Harry said. He told Kaieteur News that he was not at home when the fire had started but was at another location “through the street” when someone informed him that his house was burning down.

Harry said that when he arrived, there was nothing much that he could do but watch his dwelling place go up in flames. While querying about Hodgee, he was reportedly told that the man had ridden off on a bicycle before the fire had erupted.

Asked to put a value on his home and what he had lost in the fire, Harry, could only say “plenty”. Dazzel Boyce the lone occu

that the owners of both properties reside overseas but had left them in care of their relatives. “Harry”, one of the individuals left homeless said that he resided in the two-storey wooden building where the fire began and related that the house is owned by his mother.

pant of the second home destroyed by the fire also recounted her horror. She was reportedly sitting outside of her house when the fire erupted and caught her by surprise. “I was sitting down outside deh when the fire start, it start at the house deh (pointing at where the first house once stood) and somebody call the fire people dem”, Boyce recalled.

She did not expect that the fire would have the spread so quickly but remembered that the fire fighters were taking a while to arrive and then suddenly there was an explosion and the blaze became huge and started creeping over to her home.

Boyce said she rushed over to her apartment located on the bottom flat to save her belongings and had managed to fetch out a few stuff but was forced to leave them all to the mercy of the fire because by then the entire top flat of the house was filled with flames. The fire fighters had arrived in time and managed to save all of her belongings from being consumed by the fire but they were still damaged from the falling hot debris and water.

“Is like I still lose everything cause all them thing, ma TV, freezer and all them things soak up with water and them ashes and flakes fall down on them thing,” Boyce lamented.

Boyce lived alone and would made her living by selling clothes and fast food in a little wooden stand she had set up in her yard. The fire did not spare her stand. It was left in rubbles and all of her clothes stock were left with burnt marks and were water soaked. “Dem clothes nah good no mo, wa I gon do now”, Boyce said as she contemplated her next move. Up to press time the cause of the fire was still unknown but some persons suspect that it could have been accidently set by the mentally ill man.