Turkeyen tenement fire leaves 33 homeless
Twenty-three children among victims
Stabroek News
April 8, 2003
A mid-morning fire at First Street, Turkeyen gutted a two-storey tenement building yesterday leaving thirty-three persons - including members of the Stephens family - homeless.
The fire, which started a little before 11 am, took some thirty minutes to completely demolish the building and posed a serious threat to nearby houses.
When Stabroek News arrived, a few buckets, some charred furniture and the smouldering remains of the building were all that was left. A tenant who was home at the time said she had smelled smoke but declined to pay heed since the smell was usual in the building. According to her one of the tenants used a coal pot to cook meals and smoke would normally engulf the building.
She related that after some time she checked with the tenant and learnt that the woman's granddaughter had accidentally set a mattress on fire. At that time the woman's room was already up in flames and the fire was spreading quickly.
The tenant recalled that the woman had told her she had the fire under control and there was no need for any intervention. But the tenant's husband and the children in the yard started a bucket brigade upon seeing the flames.
Scores of residents in the area joined in the brigade but to no avail. She said due to the old wooden boards the fire spread rapidly and gutted everything in a matter of minutes.
The woman said the fire service responded quickly and arrived in time to save neighbouring houses. She lauded their efforts and commented on the quick flow of the water.
The tenant said she and her husband had lost everything and were now left with only the clothes on their backs. She said she had lived there all her life and it was the only home she had ever known.
Like her, nine other tenants and twenty-three children are left without a roof over their heads.
One tenant said the woman who cooked with the coal pot would usually leave food on the boil and run errands leaving her granddaughter unsupervised.
A middle aged man who had lived there for twenty years recalled the little girl had been playing with matches earlier in the morning and when this was brought to the grandmother's attention she had verbally abused the accusers.
According to the man, the woman and her granddaughter had since gone to stay elsewhere.
The man lamented that since the teachers had gone on strike the children were home every day unsupervised and would daily get into mischief. (Iana Seales)
