Chaos erupted at a building on Princes Street, Worthmanville, Georgetown after a fire threatened to destroyed it. The building was being rented by a number of persons.
One of the tenants, Michael North arrived home while the building was on fire and blacked out. He was taken to the Georgetown Public Hospital where he died while receiving treatment.
North worked as a driver with the Ministry of Indigenous People’s Affairs.
When the News Room arrived at the scene at Lot 48 Princes Street, persons were still trying to see what they could salvage.
According to reports, the fire started at about 14:00hrs and quickly spread through the two-storey rented property and also damaged the side of a house next door.
The prompt response of the firefighters managed to save the building from being completely destroyed.
A tenant, Joel Jordan, who is a security guard told the News Room he had just returned from work when the fire stated.
Jordan said he managed to save his bed, gas stove and some important documents.
“Me and red man [another tenant] came out of our rooms the same time, we smell the smoke and we go down at back and see it [fire] coming from the back room,” Jordan explained.
32-year-old Chancey McDonald, a mother of four, lost all her important documents, a refrigerator, a chair set and jewelry. She and her brother, Kevin McDonald, decided to leave Berbice about a month ago to seek employment in the city. Anyone willing to assist the McDonalds can contact 667 4711.
A neighbour who prefers to remain anonymous told the News Room that he hurried to get his family out of his house when the fire began to spread next door and engulfed the house with smoke.
“I have a new born child and I had to hurry and get her out of the house, I had my nieces [four of them] downstairs and my nephew…I had to hurry and get them out. My sister all she things messed up, everybody thing gone down the drain,” the neighbour said.
It was noted that the neighbours did not have a favourable relationship with the landlord.
“This big man is a pest, he does go upstairs and urinate or defecate in the washroom and then go back upstairs and knocking on your door 3, 4 o’clock in the morning.”
The neighbour said the landlord and a tenant were reportedly scheduled to attend court for an ongoing matter on Monday.
“This morning he and a tenant was to go to court, is the same room the tenant rented fire started in,” the neighbour said.
Things became even more heated and chaotic at the scene when the landlord and another tenant began fighting.
The News Room understands that the landlord tried to prevent the tenant from entering the room he rented.
About seven persons lived in the upper flat of the building, among them is Keiron Campbell and a number of other persons lived in the lower flat.
