Fire leaves several homeless

An fire believed to be of electrical 0rigin on Wednesday morning destroyed a house at Bladen Hall, East Coast Demerara leaving nine persons homeless, the Guyana Fire Service (GFS) said.

The house, which was located at 111 Bladen Hall, Railway Embankment, East Coast Demerara, was occupied by 48-year old Aubrey Matthew and eight other persons. The GFS said that, as a result of the blaze which started shortly before 8 AM, the eight persons were “left homeless.”

Fire fighters attributed the fire to an electrical problem at the one-flat wooden building. “The fire, suspected to have originated from a faulty slack connection to a duplex point, quickly spread throughout the structure, resulting in complete destruction of the building and its contents,” the GFS said.

None of the occupants or the first responders was injured.

GFS said that despite the intensity of the flames, firefighters managed to contain the situation and successfully extinguished the fire using one jet.  “The rapid and coordinated response from the fire brigade prevented further escalation of the incident,” the fire service added.