A second attempt to torch the home of 72-year old Compton Burton was foiled early yesterday morning by an observant passer-by who quickly raised an alarm.
Reports are that sometime around 3:30 am three persons attempted to set Burton’s Lot 32 Norton Street, Lodge home alight but just as the fire started a passer-by saw and raised an alarm.
Burton was asleep at the time of the incident and he said “I hear like someone pelt on the roof and I spring out of my bed and hear them people shouting `fire! fire!’ and when I come out I saw the front of my house on fire.”
The pensioner said that he lives alone and when he saw the fire he immediately rushed to his kitchen and worked feverishly to extinguish the flames. He added that after he exhausted all the water he had in his house he quickly opened the front door and allowed the others to assist.
The blaze was contained and later extinguished and only managed to scorch the walls and curtains.
Speaking to Stabroek News at his home Burton said that he was informed by the fire investigators, after they had completed their initial investigations, that the fire was started by someone who lit a kerosene soaked ‘tissue’ and placed it at his front window. It quickly engulfed his curtains.
He added that this is not the first time someone attempted to torch his home, recalling a few years back he was working in the interior when someone ripped out the floor boards of the house and stole a quantity of household items and clothes and then set it alight.
The miner said that the property he is living in is currently in dispute but asserted that he is the sole owner and by all means he has a right to live there.
