A mysterious fire destroyed the home of a family of six yesterday afternoon just after 1 in the Lamaha Springs community.
The one-storey, two bedroom building located at Lot 8 Lamaha Springs, Clifford Avenue, which had housed Rhonda Garnette, Carl Garnette and their four children had been reduced to ashes by the blaze when Stabroek News visited the scene.

The residents related to Stabroek News that they were watching an “African Mood  movie when de small children come running shouting fire, fire.”  They said that they ran out of their homes to the street where they were greeted by a cloud of black smoke and intense heat. A resident, Jones Heywood said “I smell something like tires burning but I din tek it fuh nothing” and  still she was not certain what might have triggered the fire. She stated that  knowing  that a few elderly people occupied the house next to the burning building, she soon got them evacuated and told another neighbour to call the Guyana Fire Service.

Meanwhile, other  residents noted that the fire truck which was seen on its way to the scene took the Lamaha Park entrance but had to divert to the Kaikan Street entrance since they were stopped by the gate that was locked to separate the Lamaha Park community from Lamaha Springs. They said that the delay took at least a half hour since the fire truck had to drive all the way around before finding the already blazing house. 

Heywood had also stated that her husband had attempted to break open the door of the blazing house but “De gas bottle explode and send everybody running, cause de fire started to come out of de house.” She said that several attempts were also made with a bucket brigade to save the home but their efforts were unsuccessful since they soon had to stop because of the immense heat coming from the flames.

A distraught Rhonda Garnette told Stabroek News that she left home around 6:50 hours yesterday morning to go to work and while she was on Regent Street she received a call from a neighbour who informed her that her home was on fire. She said that she rushed to the scene but  when she got there the fire had already consumed almost everything and “all I coulda do was watch it destroy de rest that did leff.”

Garnette observed  that she was still unclear about the origin of the fire. She said that she was  consoled by her neighbours who offered her husband and her a place to stay for a while and  her children will be at her sister’s home until they could afford their own living arrangements. (Ayanna Blair)