Story and photos
by Adrian Smith
A mystery fire at Number 36 Village, Corentyne, on Thursday night has destroyed the interior of a home, leaving in its wake $100 million in damage and two persons homeless. The owners of the home were overseas and no one was in the house at the time of the fire, which consumed the entire inside of the house leaving the outside looking as if nothing had happened there.
According to neighbours, they were awakened some time around midnight on Thursday by a loud noise on the road. They told Stabroek News that some Guyana Power and Light Inc (GPL) emergency workers were driving by when they saw the house, which belongs to Kedar and Radica Maharaj on fire. The emergency crew initially thought that the fire might have been caused by a GPL fault, only to find out that the home received power from a wind charger.
The neighbours said the GPL emergency workers called the Guyana Fire Service and firefighters responded in good time. The Fire Service had to break down a door to gain entrance to the building as no one was at home. However, even after they had broken down the door, heavy grillwork curtailed their effectiveness at putting out the blaze.
Fire fighters reportedly told the neighbours that because the house was sealed, the fire was contained, as there was no air inside to fuel the fire.
Neighbours said they believed the fire might have been caused by the sets of batteries used to power the house.
The owners, Kedar and Radica Maharaj, told Stabroek News that they were in London. They said they had flown there a few weeks ago for their regular medical check ups.
Some time between Thursday night and early Friday morning, they said, they received a telephone call with the news that their house was on fire. They said they took the next available flight out of London to Guyana.
Kedar Maharaj said that when they got into the house they immediately noticed that things were missing. “Valuable stuff,” had been removed prior to the fire, he said, and the “entire place was ransacked”. He said the house was not how it they had left it a few weeks back. “Yes fire burn things, but even if that was so, you would still see evidence of the objects there.” He pointed to an empty cupboard, which had only been scorched, stating that it had been filled with items before they left, but there was no evidence of them now.
He said there was a large heap of coals right under where the stairs leading to the upstairs used to be. He was adamant that the heap of coals was the remains of suites of chairs that once adorned his home. But he noted that the chair sets had all been positioned far away from the stairway. Firefighters had also removed a bottle of gas from the heap of coals. “What would a gas bottle be doing there?” Kedar Maharaj asked rhetorically.
Mr and Mrs Maharaj refuted claims that the batteries used to power their home might have caused the fire.
They showed Stabroek News the set of 14 batteries in two rows, connected to a wind charger. One set of batteries was slightly melted, while the others below were not affected at all. In addition, the worst of the damage was not in that part of the house.
Kedar Maharaj said that he has had his wind charger for over ten years and had never had any trouble.
He told Stabroek News that the plot of land on which the house was situated was in dispute and a court hearing in respect of this, was scheduled for August.
