A fire at Lamaha Street, Newtown, Kitty, Georgetown, on Thursday evening has claimed the life of a 65-year-old man who was reportedly recovering from a stroke. The deceased man has been identified as Vernal Duncan. The fire reportedly started just after 21:00h in one of the three buildings that was later completely gutted. The Guyana Fire Service (GFS) stated that firefighters from the Campbellville and Eccles Fire Stations responded to the report of a fire, and upon arriving at the scene, they observed three buildings engulfed in flames.
Through their coordinated efforts, firefighters successfully contained the blaze, preventing it from spreading further. However, two of the homes were completely destroyed, while a third sustained partial damage. During the emergency response, it was reported that one occupant was unaccounted for. Following the successful suppression of the fire, firefighters conducted a thorough search of the premises and discovered the charred remains of the missing occupant.
Senior Fire Officer Rovin Thomas related on Friday, “Two other buildings were affected as a result of the fire and radiated heat. The firefighters did an excellent job, though in some instances it can be challenging based on control and so forth, but the firefighters did an excellent job.” At the scene, a resident, Sylvia Grey, who lives next door to the house that was destroyed by the fire, recounted that she was asleep when her son alerted her that he smelled smoke.
“Well, I was sleeping. Normally, I sleep upstairs in the second room, but yesterday, after my son went [out], I said I was going to sleep in the room and watch TV. So, I ended up watching an African movie, and I went into a doze. But then I heard my son screaming, ‘Mommy, I’m smelling smoke!’ So I got up and started looking to see where the smoke was coming from. When I came by the door, I saw a big blaze, so right away I ran upstairs and turned on the pipe. I went to the bathroom and sink and started pulling water. I was looking for a small bucket but couldn’t find one. So I turned and started throwing water over the wall.”
She added that the fire quickly intensified, forcing her and her young daughter to flee.
“But after I started throwing water, the blaze started coming over towards me. The smoke started suffocating my nose, so I couldn’t take it. I had my little seven-year-old daughter with me, so I ended up running down the steps with my daughter. When I reached downstairs, I couldn’t come out because the heat was preventing me from passing. Then the firefighters came and realised that I couldn’t get through, so they started breaking through the area with water. That’s how my daughter and my son got out, and I came out too,” she stated, recounting the last frantic moments during the catastrophe.
The resident explained that after leaving her home for a short while, she returned to find the fire rapidly spreading to the neighbouring houses. Residents said the occupant had previously complained about electrical issues at the house, leading some to believe the fire may have been caused by an electrical fault. However, the exact cause of the blaze remains under investigation.
“The fire started in the middle house and then scorched the left and right. I saw the other house catching after this one started. The fire blazed up the middle house mostly, and then it started taking over this one here. His wife told me that something with the wiring of the house was catching or something like that. She said they called GPL and they came and fixed it.” Residents explained that the victim had poor eyesight and had previously suffered a stroke and injuries from an accident, which left him physically impaired.
Meanwhile, a pensioner, Desiree Mahon, was also left homeless after her house was completely destroyed in the blaze.
The post 65-year-old man perishes in Lamaha Street fire appeared first on Guyana Times.
