Bush fire rages at Yarrowkabra; fire fighters unable to reach blaze

Last Updated on Sunday, 1 October 2023, 21:41 by Denis Chabrol

A bush fire, possibly caused by the extremely dry and hot weather, was up to Sunday night raging at Yarrowkabra, Soesdyke-Linden Highway, but at least one resident said fire tenders could not reach the blaze because of the poor condition of the sand road.

“They called the fire service who told them they can’t do anything because their vehicles would get stuck. Meanwhile the bush fires are threatening their homes, smoke is stifling them and they can’t get out because of the road being in the path of the fire,” according to an account from the scene.

When contacted, Fire Chief Gregory Wickham said one of his officers informed him that the fire is across a canal and so fire fighters were unable to reach the scene.

One of the residents said, “this is another set of bush fire start around the house here. I don’t know what’s going on but it’s bare bush fire.” A resident of Yarrowkabra Residential Layout, Pump Road reportedly said she called 911 at about 1:30 / 2 PM Saturday and Sunday “she got desperate and started sending the footage out as the fires are spreading.”

Meanwhile, another source said Sunday night there appeared to be a large fire behind Caledonia, the village just south of Pearl, but again fire fighters said they could not reach that fire. “We alerted the fire service about two hours ago. They came but are unable to access the area since there are no roads leading there,” the East Bank Demerara resident said.

Caledonia is about 10 miles north of Yarrowkabra.