The blaze reportedly started shortly after 16:00 hours in the bottom flat of a three-storeyed building owned by the Newman family and situated at Lot 16 Joseph Pollydore Street, Lodge.

Within 15 minutes, the fire was almost out of control as it was fuelled by a strong breeze and the seeming inability of the firefighters to halt its path of destruction.

The three-storeyed apartment building was engulfed in flames, and in less than 30 minutes, almost completely destroyed with the blazing fire rapidly spreading to neighbouring buildings.

The inferno soon spread to Lot 15 on the western side and Lot 17 on the eastern flank of the three-storeyed structure. It then began to engulf a house on Lot 14 Joseph Pollydore Street. By this time, the blaze had been going for some 50 minutes, and up to that point, no fire tender had been seen in the vicinity.
Residents and neighbours formed a bucket brigade using water from the drains alongside the road to help fight the devastating fire. Persons were seen desperately trying to save whatever belongings they could from the blaze.

Within a short while, hundreds of persons had gathered at the fire scene where some residents were expressing their anger and frustration at the Fire Department. One resident claimed that the capability of the fire service to combat the blaze was “pathetically inadequate”.

The fire razed a two-flat building at Lot 14; a bungalow at lot 15; the huge three-storeyed structure at Lot 16; and the two-storeyed house at Lot 17 - all along Joseph Pollydore Street.

Some three families were said to have been residing at the two-flat apartment building at Lot 17. They were, the Lovells, the Nixons and the Rutherfords.

Cheryl Nixon said all she heard were shouts of “Fire, fire!” and “everybody started throwing out their stuff”.

Speaking between sobs, Ms Nixon said she simply could not believe that the house she had been living in for over 36 years with her family was going down in flames right in front of her eyes. According to Nixon, she had been living at Lot 17 with her father, Oscar Nixon; mother, Norma Nixon; nephew, Quincy Christian and her son, Shevin Benjamin.

Fortunately, the family had managed to get out some of their belongings before it was too late.

Fire Chief Prince Dickenson said he received a call informing him of the fire around 16:27 hours yesterday. Dickenson admitted that he wasn’t the first person from the Fire Department to arrive on the scene, but that when other officers reached the scene, the three-flat building was “well-alight”.

“When we came, the water was used from the water tender. But the water tender had to retreat because there was no immediate source of water right away. They went to the Princes Street canal…” the Fire Chief explained at the scene yesterday.

He noted that there were no functioning fire hydrants on D’Urban Street since they were all damaged.

Dickenson also noted that the Fire department was backed-up by two Land Rovers from the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GUYSUCO) estates of Enmore and La Bonne Intention (LBI) to aid in the fire fighting efforts.

Asked to comment on the damaged hydrants, Mr Dickenson said: “When we destroy the fire hydrants, we destroy ourselves and our communities. We have to keep them standing so that in cases of emergencies, they can come in useful; so please desist from destroying fire hydrants.”

He explained that it would have been unwise for the Fire Tenders to remain on D’Urban Street where there was no water. The vehicles were driven to Princes Street, where they obtained water from the canal.

Meanwhile, reports from eyewitnesses indicated that when the Fire Tenders arrived, they had little or no water to combat the fire.

“I can’t understand that the fire started about one hour ago and still there is only one Fire Tender on site,” stated a concerned resident on the scene.

There were some six families living in six separate apartments in the three-flat building, where the fire is believed to have started.

Julia Newman, 62, and her husband Richard, 63, the owners of the three-storeyed apartment structure, said they were inside the building at the time of the fire.

Mrs Newman confessed to being unaware of how the fire started. She said that there were other persons in the building at the time. No one was reported injured, but a pet dog had perished in the blaze.

“I was in the bedroom at the time, and I hear `Fire!’ When I hear ‘Fire’ I ran out of the bedroom with what I had in my hand,” a tearful Julia Newman said opening her hand to reveal a couple of currency notes.

Minister within the Ministry of Human Services and Social Security, Ms. Bibi Shadick, arrived at the scene shortly after 18:00 hours, when the fire had been brought under control.

Ms Shadick said that President Bharrat Jagdeo had instructed her to visit the scene of the disaster to find out what assistance could be rendered to those affected and left homeless.

According to Shadick, the Night Shelter would accommodate any of the homeless if they so desired.

“It is very disturbing that fire seems to be destroying so many of our peoples’ homes,” she contended.