Fire razors five homes
Both houses in Shell Road Kitty were destroyed. (Photo Credit: Joseph Allen)
Both buildings in the Costello Housing Scheme were destroyed.
Kaieteur News – Firefighters were busy yesterday following a series of fires that destroyed five homes, leaving 35 people homeless. Kaieteur News confirmed that three of the destroyed houses had no insurance.
The first, according to Fire Chief Kalamadeen Edoo, began around 04:09 o’clock. at Lot 20 19th Street, Dazzle Housing Scheme, Mahaica, East Coast Demerara (ECD). A relatively large two-storey concrete house, owned by Claudia and James Osbourne, had caught fire.
They, along with their 12-year-old grandson Jarel Toney (son of popular sports journalist Rawle Toney), and their four children, Jamaima, Joanna, Jaquan and Joel Osbourne, were at home when the fire broke out.Kaieteur news from a member of the Osborne family that the fire had started in one of the bedrooms of the upper apartment. Based on investigations conducted by the fire department, Edoo said, he was fired by a mosquito coil.
The family member said a coil had fired combustible material further into the room and had begun to spread quickly. The Osbornes attempted to extinguish the fire by dragging the combustible material through the house, which was then thrown outside. However, while that was being done, other materials caught fire in the house as well. The fire went out of control shortly thereafter. While the rest of the family members ran out of the house, it was revealed that Jaquan was trapped inside, trying to control the fire.
The devastated home of the Osbornes.
In a desperate attempt to save himself, he was forced to jump from the veranda located on the top floor, all the way to the bottom.
This led to him plundering one of his feet badly. Shortly after, a fire tender arrived from Melanie Fire station and firefighters began their work.
Despite the efforts of the firemen, the family member said the house had been destroyed and they were unable to save anything.
Jaquan was taken to Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) for treatment. Doctors there immediately admitted him. Up to press time, Kaieteur News was informed that he was still in hospital.
Meanwhile, Rawle Toney told his newspaper that his son had received some minor burns from the fire debris and was also taken to hospital. He was treated and sent away. He assured Toney, however, that the burns are nothing serious and that he is currently using creams to speed up the healing process.
A few hours later, while firefighters wrapped up their work in the Dazzle Housing Scheme, firefighters from Central Fire Station in Georgetown rushed to another fire that exploded in Lot 20B Shell Road, Kitty.
That fire started, according to Fire Chief Edoo, at 06:30 o’clock. and knocking down two storey houses of wood and concrete, leaving four people homeless.
Edoo said the two fire tenders that responded from Central Fire Station had to be supported by fire tenders from Alberttown and Campbellville, just to prevent the fire spreading to nearby buildings.
Videos seen in this media house showed firefighters battling the raging flames, as residents burst into tears as their homes were completely burnt to the ground. Among the four residents, who now face their millions of dollars in losses, are Marlyn and Leon Monroe.
Edoo said the cause of the Kitty fire was an overloaded electrical circuit, which had ignited and ignited combustible materials in one of the houses.
After extinguishing Kitty’s fire, Georgetown firefighters had little time to rest and pack up equipment. At about 11:45 o’clock another fire at Costello’s Lot 75 Housing Scheme exploded along Cemetery Road. Fire tenders from Central Fire Station, supported by one from Alberttown, and one from West Ruimveldt, had to rush to the scene.
Kaieteur News learned that the fire started in an apartment building and then spread to another building nearby, which housed a restaurant. Residents of the apartment building, totaling 24 including six children, managed to escape.
Edoo confirmed that those buildings were also completely destroyed and due to the severity of the fire, two other buildings were partially baked. This fire, Edoo said, was also electrical in nature. As with Kitty’s fire, Edoo explained, it started with sparks from an overloaded electrical circuit.