Liverpool fire leaves six homeless

Story and photos by Adrian Smith

A fire of unknown origin completely destroyed a house at Lot 11 Liverpool Village, Corentyne, around 02:10 hrs yesterday, leaving six persons, including four children, homeless.

According to Paul Leonard, the tenant at the house, he and his wife Kim returned home around 01:50 hrs from a wake in Lancaster Village. Their four children were watching television, Leonard said and he and his wife went to bed leaving the children watching a movie.
The fire-eaten building crashes downHe told Stabroek News that his wife awakened him a little later, saying that the place was a little too hot. He said he got up and saw the entire kitchen engulfed in flames.

He rushed to the door to get a bucket to try to douse the fire but he had underestimated its size. When he got outside, Leonard told Stabroek News, he barely was able to throw one bucket of water on the fire and by that time, his wife and eldest daughter were able to get the other children out of the house safely.


Paul Leonard standing amid the rubble of what was once his home after the sun came up yesterday.He started to scream for help, but as neighbours came out the fire was too much for them to do anything but stand and look as the angry flames devoured everything they owned. They only managed to save a motorcycle that was parked under the house. No one could have ventured back into the house.
Half of the Leonard’s home engulfed in flames yesterday morning.Stabroek News arrived at the scene around 02:15 hrs and witnessed the intensity of the blaze.
No one could have gone within 150 metres of the fire without feeling the intense heat.
By 02:27 hrs the entire house was a big ball of fire.
“The family is a neighbour of mine as I regularly visit them and I feel it for them,” a resident commented. “It was their internet service that I sometimes used. It is my hope that God grants them the strength to go on.”

Disappointment
Meanwhile, residents of the community expressed disappointment at the operation of the Guyana Fire Service. The Police and Fire Department were informed and within minutes, officers from the Whim Police Station arrived in Liverpool. It was nearly an hour later that fire fighters from New Amsterdam first arrived. Then, 15 minutes after they arrived, the unit from Albion turned up.
Residents said this was surprising since Albion was about halfway between Liverpool and New Amsterdam.
Forty-five minutes after they had arrived, neither of the two fire tenders could have trained any water on the fire although there was a canal next to the burning house. While the suction hoses were in the canal and two firemen stood with the hose at the ready, engine roaring, no water came through the hose from either fire tender.
They then exchanged the suction hose from one vehicle with the other, still with no result until an ex-fireman showed up and gave some assistance.