Deadly Plantain Walk fire: Owner says threat was issued to torch the house

The Plantain Walk, West Bank Demerara (WBD) house that went up in flames and claimed the life of Venezuelan national, Richard LaSado, on Friday morning has been at the centre of a family dispute for some time now.

The owner, Bernadette Gordon told the News Room that a close relative previously threatened to burn the house down.

“All kind of threats…I filed an application on the 12^th of December….where [she] threatened to burn down my house and all these kind of things,” Gordon said.

The fire started at around 03:30 hrs.

The News Room understands that upon receiving the call, two fire tenders responded to the scene but by the time they arrived, the building was fully engulfed. No valuables were saved.

Gordon told the News Room that she returned to Guyana in September 2023 to conduct repair works on her house.

The Lot G, Plantain Walk house is situated in front a stretch of land. On the same land there are two others houses – owned by Gordon’s son and a close relative.

According to Gordon, LaSado was installing windows on the house and he would normally do the installation and repair works in the evening into the morning hours, since he worked another job during the day.

While she managed to escape the inferno, Gordon said LaSado perished while trying to escape from the burning building.

“I saw this big glaze on one of my family house. So I come now to see where this blaze is coming from only to find it was coming from the back of my yard where I have people working to put in windows.

“When I run down the step, when I open the door in panic, the oxygen mix with the fire, that is how come the guy (LaSado) died, trying to get out the house. The grill door was not locked…the fire rushed to the front,” Gordon explained to the News Room.

Due to the radiated heat, two neighbouring buildings were also damaged.

One of the owners, Vernon Abel told the News Room he was awakened by screams coming from his neighbours, informing him of the fire.

“When the fire started I was sleeping. I can’t tell how it start, who start it. But it look like a mystery.

“The neighbours around start to shout out. When I was in the house, I saw the big fire catching on the one side of the house. They telling me ‘get out the house’ but I had to pick up certain things. When I come out back the fire tender barely come in time or else this building woulda been here,” Abel said.

Fire Chief Gregory Wickham told the News Room that an investigation has been launched to determine the cause of the fire.