A fire of unknown origin gutted a wooden cottage in minutes, at Lot 55 Stanleytown, New Amsterdam just before 9 pm on Monday, while the lone occupant, Charlie Grant was absent from the premises.
Grant said he had secured his home and went out around 5 pm. His house did not have electricity he did not leave any candle lit. He said he suspected that the fire was the work of arsonist. He said he was expecting to have electricity soon and had already bought a freezer, television and other appliances.
The man who builds tents for major activities like town day said that all his materials that he bought to erect the tent for the Rose Hall Day were destroyed. He estimated his losses to be about $4 million.
A teenager in the area told Stabroek News, that he was awakened by his mother, who urged him to quickly fill buckets with water.
The boy, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said he obeyed and on leaving their yard he observed that the neighbour’s house was on fire.
The teenager explained that the high galvanized fence on the eastern side of the yard, had prevented him from seeing the blaze at first. In addition, he noted that the blaze started at the front of building, which faced the Berbice River on its west.
According to him, the heat of the blaze was not felt on the eastern side as the wind blew from that direction. However, he recalled that minutes after neighbours joined in the bucket brigade, the fire tender arrived and was able to prevent the fire from spreading to nearby buildings. Nothing, he said, was saved from the building.
