Residents of Number Three Village, West Coast Berbice are counting their lucky stars that an abandoned house which went up in flames early Friday morning did not spread to their homes.

Residents telephoned the Blairmont Police Station and the Blairmont Estate fire tender which arrived shortly after, but the building was already burnt flat. A bordering fence and several fruit trees and flower plants in a neighbouring yard were also destroyed.

Fire-fighters doused the two neighbouring buildings and were successful in preventing the blaze from spreading.

Ravi Rajkumar said it was between 12.30 am and 1 am that he was awakened by a bright glare in his house and then he started hearing loud crackling sounds. He looked out and saw that the small unoccupied house next door was on fire.

He quickly telephoned his father, Rabbie Rajkumar, who operates Rajkumar’s Honey-works in the lower flat of the building and then he ran downstairs. Ravi noticed that his fence and pieces of wood in his yard had started to burn and he quickly put the flames out.

He said there was nothing they could do to save the abandoned building since the fire was spreading rapidly. According to him before he retired to bed around midnight he looked around the neighbourhood and everything seemed fine. He suspects that it might be a case of arson.

Mohamed Safie, 62, and his wife Sheila Safie, 68, who live in the other building that was saved said they are thankful that their house was not destroyed. They said their fence and flower garden were already burning when they awakened to the heat and the loud noise around 1.15 am.

They said persons who gathered at the scene assisted in dousing their building with water until the fire tender arrived.

Safie said the walls of his home had already started to get hot and he was afraid.

“We lately changed old boards from the wall and painted it up. If was the old board the building coulda burn,” Sheila said. “My flower garden is destroyed but that doesn’t matter; once the house is saved.”