Photos by Anjuli Persaud
A house at Ogle, on the East Coast Demerara was gutted by fire yesterday, after the electricity meter burst into flames.
The Lot 30, Ogle Sideline Dam house belonged to Parbattie Sukhu, and was occupied by her three children and their aunt Sharda Williams.
According to Williams, her 12-year-old niece Sasha Dhanraj was at home until around 11:55am, when she left to go and collect her younger sister, Sarah Etwaroo, from school. After she left, the main power lines on the electrical pole on the street began sparking. She added that her grandmother saw smoke emanating from the house and she sounded the alarm.
Williams then related that she quickly went to the house and tried to shut the main switch off. In the process, she sustained an electric shock while the wooden building was quickly engulfed in flames, making it impossible to save anything. She added that she was only able to save the computer system. She estimated the losses to be over $3M.
All the residents blasted Guyana Power and Light (GPL) for the fire since they said that they have been constantly informing the company about the faulty wires on the pole, noting that they spark regularly. Williams said, “Only last week I tell GPL about the wire and then me tell them that the only way them gon fix it is when somebody house burn down and watch now, ah me sissy house gone down. She wuk hard fuh build that house fuh she pickney.”
Sukhu is a vendor at the Graham’s Hall Primary School at Cummings Lodge and, because of where she works, she stays at her other house in the Sophia/ Cummings Lodge area.
The children, ages five to sixteen, moved into the house in January of last year and were in the care of their aunt as they attended school.
Before the fire service arrived, some residents formed a bucket brigade and they successfully contained the blaze and prevented it from spreading to the other houses in the yard.
The fire tender arrived at the scene about half hour later, by which time the entire house was almost already burnt. Nevertheless, the firemen sprung into action, saving the bathroom, which had just started to burn, and rescuing four puppies that had been inside.
Local musician Jory Hector, who is also a fireman, was 12-year-old Sasha’s hero when he reunited her with the pups that she quickly dashed to safety.
