A father and his teenage son are now homeless after an early morning fire on Sunday completely razed their three-bedroom house at D’Edward Village, West Bank Berbice, Region Five (Mahaica-Berbice).
Due to the blaze, 16-year-old Osborne Spencer, who was completing his School-Based Assessment (SBA) projects has lost his textbooks, notebooks and a laptop among other school items.
His father, 58-year-old Alvin Spencer, who occupied the house with his 16-year-old son, told Inews that the fire was first spotted at about 03:00h.
He recalled that he was asleep when his son alerted him of the fire.
“When I get up, I see the fire in the middle of the house and all I could have do is run outside.”
The teenager, relating the ordeal, said the bright light from the flames in the building woke him up.
“I don’t sleep deep and with the light and the heat I wake up and I see the flames reaching almost the roof and so I called my father and we try to throw water but we had to run outside.”
According to his father, when he got up, he was able to make it out of his bedroom without being trapped by the flames. He said he was unable to save anything.
Alvin Spencer, who resides in Barbados with his wife and two other children and works as a painter, returned to Guyana in September to assist his son with his Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) examinations preparations.
“This is a critical time for him and he will need his father next to him. So, I came home to assist him.”
At the time of the blaze, there was no electricity connected to the building since the meter was disconnected. “I was hoping to renovate the house while here,” the father said.
The washroom area had already been reconstructed and there was a pile of construction blocks in the yard.
The flat building was completely gutted. In addition, a shop in front of the building was also destroyed. However, it was not functioning at the time of the fire.
The father and his son are now staying with a friend in the neighbouring village of Rosignol until the house is reconstructed.
The man told Guyana Times that he would like to rebuild as soon as possible and as such, has reached out to the public for assistance. He can be contacted on telephone number 671-5476.
