Nurse jumps to safety as Berbice house goes up in flames

A fire of unknown origin on Boxing Day completely destroyed the home of a Nurse and her brother and caused extensive damage to the neighbour’s house at 2nd Street Limlair Village, Corentyne Berbice.

Claudia Ross, 56, a nurse attached to the Port Mourant Hospital, told News Room she jumped off the verandah after she woke up at around 16:30hrs to persons screaming “fire! fire! Get out!”

Ross lived alone in the upper flat of the concrete house, which was fully furnished and equipped with all modern amenities, while her brother occupied the lower flat with his family of three.

“As I got out of the bedroom, a big ball of flame was in-front of me in the hallway, so I tried to open the side door but the flame was intense so I just ran to the verandah, opened the door and jumped off,” a distraught Ross recalled.

The family was unable to save anything and estimated their losses to be in the millions.

Next door, Dale Kyte broke down in tears as her house suffered extensive damage; she shared the house with seven others and only recently completed some construction work and bought new furniture.

“In my bed I heard pat! pat! And it keep getting louder and I felt this heat. I say this isn’t normal. The room was also bright. That’s when I get up, opened the window and to my shock I see my neighbor house on fire,” Kyte told News Room.

She woke up her children and mother and ushered them to safety.

Residents formed a bucket brigade before the Fire Service arrived, but by then, the house was already engulfed in flames.