An Airy Hall, Mahaicony family is now homeless after a fire gutted their home and a fire tender from Georgetown arrived one hour after the blaze started.

Grandai Ramdeen, 52, told Stabroek News that at about 3.30 pm on Tuesday she and her daughter Gaitree Singh were relaxing in their hammocks when they heard neighbours shouting, “Fire, run out the house.” She said her daughter ran out to the road while she ran to her son’s house at the back.

Reports are that the fire started in the back bedroom in the upper flat of the two-storey, three-bedroom house. Ramdeen said the blaze spread quickly and they were not able to save anything. She lamented that it was only during the Christmas holidays they had furnished the bottom flat with a new refrigerator and gas stove. Ramdeen said they also lost a new generator valued at $120,000, two three-piece suites and a microwave.

Singh said she and her mother spend most of their time in the lower flat during the day since they operate a grocery shop in front of the house. The concrete structure was not burnt but most of the items in the shop were damaged by water.

Ramdeen’s husband, 55-year-old Bharrat was at work at Ogle when he got word that his house was on fire. The family has not yet estimated their losses.

The Ramdeen’s neighbour, sixty-eight-year-old Ramdularie Singh, whose house was scorched, told Stabroek News that her louvre windows are broken and her curtains were burnt but quick action by residents, who had formed a bucket brigade, prevented the building from burning.

The woman said she was resting when her daughter, who was in the veranda, shouted for her to get out of the house. She said she became confused and started to scream and ran downstairs. Relatives helped her to remove a few pieces of clothing and other items from the house and she is thankful that her house was not destroyed.