Investigators to visit horrific Port Kaituma fire scene

Last Updated on Saturday, 26 December 2015, 20:59 by GxMedia

Fire fighters and police investigators are Sunday due to fly to Port Kaituma to continue probing the circumstances surrounding Friday night’s fire that left a woman and her would children dead.

Businessman, Lenus La Cruz  remained hospitalized under police guard in the gold mining township because he is the prime suspect in the death of his wife and children. He suffered severe burns.

Fire Chief, Marlon Gentle said the Fire Service officers would be conducting a damage assessment that could prove helpful during an expected court case.

DemWaves was told that a damage assessment focuses on the size of the building, the extent of fire damages, probable cause and effect of the blaze.

Gentle, meanwhile, could not say how soon a fire station would be constructed and equipped at Port Kaituma. Among the considerations, he said, would be the layout of the area and ready access to water. The only major water source in the area is the Kaituma River, he said. He said that efforts would  be made to beef up support for auxiliary fire fighters in the area.

The opposition A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) criticized government for failing to ensure that community is properly equipped to deal with fires. “Port Kaituma is a large and densely populated community and should have a branch of the Guyana Fire Service,” the coalition said, adding that government has been neglecting hinterland communities.

Police said the blaze erupted shortly after a surviving daughter went to the station and reported that her parents were quarrelling and her father was threatening to burn down the building which housed the dwelling and a store on the lower flat.

Those who perished are housewife Lurlene La Cruz, 39 years; her daughters Lea La Cruz, 14 years, and Lavette La Cruz, 3 years; and sons Labron La Cruz, 8 years, and Levon La Cruz, 1 year. Theire bodies were later found among the debris.