Three units of the Barrington Apartment Building, located at at D’Aguiar Park, East Bank Demerara were on Monday night reportedly destroyed by fire.
The fire, suspected to be electrical in origin, started some time around 18:45hrs when one of the tenants noticed thick smoke coming from the ceiling of her high-end unit and raised an alarm.
According to another tenant, Managing Director of the GTM Group of Insurance Companies, Roger Yee, the fire started in his neighbour’s apartment.
“My neighbour from next door banged on my door to tell me there is a fire in her room, but there was nothing I could do… I went up to see if it was possible to save, but it was too late at that time. Smoke was too thick, so I asked if anybody called the fire tender, but nobody seems to have a clue,” he said.
The Fire Service was called and got there within 10 minutes, and was able to contain the blaze to just one building.
Meanwhile, another resident said that she was in her bathroom when she heard someone yelling fire and she quickly evacuated her building.
At the scene, the firefighters worked swiftly to contain the blaze in spite of facing their regular water shortage issues. They were able to access water from the complex’s swimming pool, which aided them significantly in extinguishing the fire.
Preliminary reports indicate that there was a fluctuation of power in the area which may have led to the fire.
Four of the five units of the building were occupied at the time of the incident while one was vacant.
