Fifteen persons including 13 children are now left homeless after fire ravaged their West Berbice home on Wednesday.
The Lot 31 Kingelley Village, West Coast Berbice owned by Maxwell McDonald was destroyed at around 11:05h.
According to reports, the fire was started in one of the bedrooms in the three bedroom wooden house.
Officer in Charge of Operations at the Guyana Fire Service in Berbice, Divisional Fire Officer Clive McDonald told INews that the fire was caused by children who were left unsupervised and were playing with matches.
However, the house owner said that he is uncertain of what caused the fire since the children ranging from ages 1 to 17 years old are reluctant to speak.
He further relayed that as he returned home from work on Wednesday, he observed the thick smoke in the air. He said one of his work colleagues told him that it was his house on fire, and he quickly dismounted from the truck and ran home.
“When I come in I see the fire from the back room, so I try to get a bucket and throw (water), but the (heat) from the fire was too (much) and I couldn’t control the fire, so I had to leave it,” McDonald related.
He explained that it was shortly after that that the gas cylinder exploded, and it added fuel to the fire in the building.
The house was reduced to rubble in just mere moments.
