A Buxton, East Coast Demerara, house was this afternoon destroyed by fire, leaving at least eight persons homeless.
The fire began sometime around 12:00h in the upper flat of the Lot 46 Buxton Railway Embankment, ECD, two-storey wooden house and quickly engulfed the entire building while also scorching the house next door.
When INews arrived on the scene, the owner of the scorched house related that she in the shower when her daughter started shouting “Fire, fire!”
The elderly woman recalled that she immediately ran to her bedroom, which was in the lower flat of the house, put on a dress and grabbed her “important documents” before existing her home.
“I know my house old, and it is wood, and as soon as I see it start catching [fire], I grabbed my valuables and came out”, she said.
According to the woman, when she got outside onto the road the fire had already engulfed the upper flat of the neighbour’s house and was beginning to spread to her’s.
The Fire Service managed to prevent the blaze from further destroying the neighbouring house.
This publication understands that the home is owned by a 73-year-old woman who has been living on the property since “she was in her 20s”.
Neighbours say at the time of the fire, the elderly woman, her niece who takes care of her and the niece’s children including three-year-old were at home.
They all managed to escape before the entire building, which had a shop and a wash bay in front, was engulfed in flames.
The occupants were unable to save any of their belongings.
The cause of the fire is still to be determined. An investigation is underway.
