Six persons are homeless following a fire on Norton Street, Lodge, Georgetown yesterday afternoon which gutted a building.
At the time of the blaze on Lot 62 Norton Street, five adults and a four year-old-boy were occupying the residence. The fire was said to have started around 2:30pm. The owner of the house is said to be living abroad.
Along with the house, part of a shop in front of the house was damaged while many of the items were either damaged from heat or water. The side of a house next door was also blackened from the blaze.
Quincy McEwan, one of the occupants and also the caretaker of the house was too traumatized to speak and only pointed out that he lived upstairs and couldn’t account for his losses.
Another occupant, Ezekiel Edwards, said that at the time of the fire, he had stepped away from the shop in front of the house, which he helps to operate, to begin cooking in the kitchen downstairs when he heard noise upstairs as if something was crashing through the window.
“I strongly believe that somebody pelt like a bottle with gas and fire or something which started the fire because we don’t leave on our appliances or so unless maybe the television or the fridge upstairs. By the time I heard the noise, another occupant of the house who was at the pipe washing started saying that a heavy smoke coming from the upstairs. By the time we run out of the house and look up, the whole upstairs was already in flames,” Edwards said.
He said that except for the step leading upstairs and the wall surrounding it, every other part of the building was made of wood. Edwards noted that the building being old, it went up in flames quickly. He had been living at the premises for three years now.
Edwards said that another tenant of the building who was with his girlfriend at the time of the fire narrowly escaped death. Edwards said that the man pushed his girlfriend away from the blaze. At this point, there were several minor explosions which resulted in him suffering minor cuts about his body. Both are otherwise said to be fine.
Edwards said he was unable to save anything.
Meanwhile, the occupant of the neighbouring house which suffered some damage also was too traumatized to speak. The mother of the woman who lives there said that two of the rooms on the side of the house closest to the building which was gutted by fire have also been destroyed as a result of the heat and water. Several of the windows were also broken when firemen turned their hoses on the house to prevent the fire from spreading.
Several persons were overheard saying that the fire was as a result of arson. However, no one saw anything.
Investigations are ongoing.
