Twelve homeless after Charlestown blaze

A fire suspected to be of electrical origin early yesterday morning destroyed a Charlestown house leaving 12 persons homeless and millions of dollars in losses.

Speaking to Stabroek News hours after the 2am fire, owner of the two-flat building situated at Lot 8 Charles Street, Charlestown, Gavin Stewart,   said that he heard a shout of fire from someone in the bottom flat and when he ran downstairs he saw the lower section of the house consumed in flames.

“The only thing I could have done is run up back and get my wife and daughter out of the house,” the distressed man recalled.

Stewart, who is a mines officer with the Guyana Geology & Mines Commission, said that he, his wife, two-year-old daughter and his mother-in-law lived in the four-bedroom top flat of the house while a family of eight lived in the bottom flat. He said they suspect the fire to be electrical as no one was up at the time. The man said that he estimates his loss to be about $20M as they were unable to salvage anything.

Asked what were his future plans the man simply said “Wait on God for some answers,” noting that he is a Christian.

The family is now staying with relatives and when this newspaper visited the location of the fire all that was left was the rubble. This newspaper was told that while the fire service responded it was too late to save the building.