Millions in losses as furniture store, house destroyed by fire

A well-known furniture establishment was destroyed by fire on Wednesday night, leaving seven persons homeless and the owners counting millions of dollars in losses.

Deodat Tikchand, owner of the Tikchand Furniture Establishment located at West Canefield Settlement, East Canje, has been operating the business for over 30 years.

The fire, he said, started at around 22:00 hrs from the back fence where the furniture workshop is situated.

The News Room understands that there were two buildings on the lot – the front building is where Tikchand resided with his six other relatives and operated the furniture store on the lower flat while the back building was used as the storage bond.

The front building was completely destroyed while the concrete building at the back is still standing but all contents inside were burnt.

Tikchand said it was his sister who noticed the blaze at the back because he was asleep.

“When me come out, me see the fire, but me couldn’t really do nothing because when me come down like the fire crawl over the fence and start catch on the wood (furniture workshop)…” Tikchand said.

Residents said the fire service responded more than an hour after a report was made and that the water hoses were punctured in several spots, rendering the equipment ineffective to fight the magnitude of the fire which had already caught on to the front building.

“The fire service take a good time to come but if they reach in time, they wudda catch the back, it na wudda reach the house (front)”, Tikchand said.

Tikchand said none of the buildings were insured.