A fire suspected to be electrical in origin has completely razed two houses and caused extensive damage to a third at Star Street, Friendship, East Bank Demerara (EBD), just after midday on Saturday.
The fire, which reportedly began in the upper flat of one of the houses following an explosion, has now left seven Cuban nationals and two Guyanese occupants without a roof over their heads.
The house in which the fire began was occupied by the Cubans. According to one of the occupants, Maite Balboa, her son was at home alone when he reportedly heard sounds emanating from the transformer, which was located in their living quarters. According to her, the transformer had been sparking prior to the fire on Saturday. She explained that she, alongside other tenants, frequently experienced power outages and would inform the landlord about the issue.
According to the occupants, someone would usually be sent to restore the electricity and attempt to fix the electrical issue, but the situation persisted.
The tenant explained that complaints were made to the persons collecting rent, but there were no attempts to have the situation remedied.
The occupants also noted that they had a small converter which appeared to be overloaded as well.
“The problem with the sparking happened several times… I can only imagine how many times we had these issues. We would always call and say, ‘This doesn’t work, this doesn’t work.’”
Meanwhile, another tenant, who was visibly emotional at the scene, broke down in tears as he recalled losing a large amount of cash that he had saved at home.
“That’s it. I don’t have anything left. I had some money that my wife and I were saving while I worked construction every day. I also had some US dollars separately from the savings, and now all I have is the clothes on my back,” he said as tears trickled from his eyes.
Investigations are ongoing.
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