According to eyewitnesses, the blaze started at about 10:30 hrs and it took mere minutes for the two-storey wooden building to be razed because the structure was very old.

When the Chronicle arrived on the scene, the Guyana Fire Service was trying to put out the fire, which was still blazing.

Several occupants of the house could be heard wailing in despair as they watched all their belongings going up in flames.

It took several family members to revive one resident who kept fainting as a result of the shock.

The property, said to be family-owned, was in the care of 68-year-old Gwendolyn Thomas, who also lived in the lower flat of the building with her five-year-old granddaughter.

She told the Chronicle that yesterday morning she was in the shop at the front of the yard when she heard persons shouting "fire!".

The grandmother said when she left the shop, she saw the building already engulfed in flames and as a result, was unable to save anything.

Neighbours told this newspaper Thomas' granddaughter, Mary Ann Estwith, was seen playing with matches.

When questioned, Thomas denied the allegation, saying that her granddaughter was not around when the fire occurred.

Like the other occupants of the house, the woman who had been living there for more than 10 years, was unable to save any of her belongings, which included a fridge, a suite and other household items.

According to eyewitnesses, the fire began at the front of the building, which was divided into four apartments.

Fifty-seven-year-old Terrence Babb told this newspaper that he was taking a bath when he heard children in the yard screaming.

The man said that upon looking out of the bathroom, he saw thick smoke coming from the building.

Babb, who lived in the upper flat, said he quickly wrapped his towel around him and tried to get upstairs.

However, he was unable to do so and as a result, lost everything he had in the building.

The man, who said he owned a chair set, a new fridge and a new bed among other items, estimated his losses at $1.5M.

A distraught Simone Phillips, another tenant of the house, said she was sleeping when she smelt smoke.

She quickly awoke and managed to save a suite and a television set, but everything else went up in flames.

Phillips, an employee of the Cops Security Service, is also the mother of two children, ages eight and nine years old.

She, like most other occupants of the house, was unable to determine the cause of the fire.