An elderly woman is now dead after a fire, suspected to be electrical in origin, gutted her Nonpareil, East Coast Demerara house early yesterday morning.
Dead is Rovena Hassan, called ‘Vena,’ who was 65.
Reports are that the fire, which started around 12.45 am, ripped through the two-storey house, which is situated at Lot 22 Nonpareil, within minutes.
Hassan is suspected to have been trapped in the house, which was heavily grilled. Her remains were later found in the lower flat.
The house is owned by Shereeza Rahaman and Manzoor Rahaman, who are the daughter and son in law of the now deceased woman. Hassan lived alone.
A source close to the investigation informed Stabroek News that a preliminary investigation indicated that the fire was electrical in nature since electricity was recently restored to the house after being disconnected.
Syed Hassan, the dead woman’s son, reportedly told investigators that he last saw his mother alive around mid-day on Thursday. Syed, this newspaper understands, would check on his mother from time to time. He reportedly paid to have the electricity reconnected to the house.
Residents of the area yesterday related to Stabroek News that quick responses by the Guyana Fire Service, prevented the blaze from destroying nearby buildings.
A neighbour, Steve (only name given), said he and his family were awakened by cracking sounds coming from the house. “We were awakened with the brick, the wall and stuff did cracking up,” he said.
He said that he assisted in forming a bucket brigade in an effort to put out the fire, but by that time, the top flat of the house was already destroyed.
“We assisting by forming a bucket…brigade and try out the fire but that didn’t work because the top of the house did already burnt already. So we try to save these two other buildings,” Steve said.
A tyre shop is situated on the eastern side of the house.
Travez Piaralall, another neighbour said before he and his family learnt of the fire, a
large crowd had already gathered at the scene.
“…By time we come out, there was so much people outside already. We try throw some water on this tyre shop because the fire start to spread…..if it did hit the tyre shop then all the surrounding houses woulda been gone. So I try to save the tyre shop. By time I jump up to save the tyre shop, the fire service came. They were prompt. Actually, they help to save the day because if they weren’t on time, then the tyre shop woulda gone and everything woulda went with it,” Piaralall said.
He said when it was realised that Hassan was nowhere to be seen, it was too late. “We panic, everybody panic, like we trying to save our house and our things and there was a bunch of people outside already on the road and then when we try to sort everything out, then we realise that the woman (Hassan) is in there,” he added.
He said his mother heard Hassan screaming. “Apparently mommy and some other people heard that she (Hassan) scream and after that, they didn’t hear back anything. But um nobody coulda done (anything), it was so big, the fire was so big,” Piaralall said.
“The hurtful part was when I parked my vehicle and I heard the two screams but couldn’t do nothing,” the man’s mother said.
Piaralall further explained that the front section of the area would normally experience “short outs” whenever there is power disruption in the area.
“Actually, this front row of Nonpareil, from time to time, whenever we have blackout, this front row always have a different…everywhere else would get blackout and here alone would get current. Sometime everywhere else would get current and here alone would get blackout. So I think this front row has an electrical problem,” he said,
According to Piaralall, this issue has been ongoing for a number of years.
“We made reports to GPL every time blackout come on and when that happens, we don’t get power until the next morning. I think they might have fixed it, but I am not too sure how genuine was the fix,” Piaralall observed.
Hassan was described as a very peaceful and loving individual.
