A fire, believed to have been started by one of the occupants, who is reportedly of unsound mind, destroyed a home at Friendship, East Bank Demerara yesterday afternoon.
The woman believed to have started the fire has been taken into police custody. She had reportedly on numerous occasions threatened to burn down the building.
The fire, which started shortly before 5 pm yesterday, quickly engulfed the Lot 11 Friendship home and nothing was saved, residents said. Kumar Persaud, a neighbour said that an alarm that smoke was emanating from the neighbouring building was raised shortly before 5 pm. He stated that as he rushed to check he observed the building on fire. Persaud related that the fire service was called and arrived quickly but by then the fire had razed the home.
Neighbours said that the woman and her husband were at home when the fire started and when the police arrived they were taken to the Grove Police station.
Meantime, watching as the firemen doused the embers of the burnt building with tears in his eyes, Raju Rampersaud, the couple’s son told Stabroek News that he was at Diamond when he received a call that the house that he used to live in until three months ago was on fire. He recounted that he immediately rushed to the area and upon arriving saw that the flames had already engulfed the building.
“I wuk and I help build this house and watch what happen, I got to start again”, he said staring at the blackened shell, oblivious to the drops of water that fell from the firemen’s hose.
He said that his mother was of unsound mind and confirmed that she had threatened to burn down the home. “She tell me she gon burn down the house but me na believe she and she do it. Why she had to do it”, the visibly upset man questioned. Rampersaud said that he had moved out after the family had begun having problems and his other siblings had moved out also and only their parents remained there. He said that his mother was being treated for her condition but sometimes did not take her medication and it was then that she “acted up”.
At the scene yesterday, groups of residents congregated around the burnt building, discussing what had transpired. The buildings on both sides of the razed house suffered damage with scorched walls, broken glass windows and water soaked rooms visible in them. Water hoses lay across the public road with water being accessed from a trench.
Passing vehicles slowed as they drove over the hoses and drivers watched the burnt building. Neighbours, whose homes had been threatened, sat on their furniture that had been fetched out of their houses and also stared at the destroyed building.
Residents recalled that about 16 years ago a building on the very lot had burnt down but that family had not been residing there at the time.
