One year to the date after the death of Jairam Ramcharran, the late proprietor of “Little India,” his home at Lot 123 Ixora Avenue, Eccles Housing Scheme was gutted by a fire of unknown origin.
The house is now occupied by his widow, Sattie Ramcharran, and family.
At the time of the fire most of the family members, some of whom had travelled from overseas, were at a nearby Mandir, where a religious ceremony was underway.
According to Rudra Ramcharran, a family member who was at home when the fire started, he and some family members smelt something burning and proceeded to check the house for the source of the smell.
The fire was soon discovered inside the storeroom of the house, where a quantity of incense was kept.
The cause of the fire is yet unknown, but speculation surrounds the idea that the fire was electrical in origin.
Other speculation also revolves around the spontaneous combustion of the incense which was stored in the room where the fire started. 
Richard Persaud, a neighbour who was instrumental in the initial phase of the fire fighting, said that after the fire was discovered in the storeroom, they were unable to get into the storeroom because they did not have the keys to the room.    
Persaud and other public-spirited neighbours proceeded to break their way through the door and grill and then begin to fight the fire.
Initially a bucket brigade was started, and, according to Persaud, the Guyana Fire Service showed up almost 30 minutes after the first phone call was made.
Residents in the area spoke of a spirit of cooperation, which is now being touted as the reason why the building was not completely gutted.
“There were no fire hydrants in the area,” lamented Persaud.
He noted that when the Fire Service arrived, they took some time to organise themselves as well as to source water.
They had to resort to the drains, but soon after the drains began to run dry.
Neighbours then started to put their garden hoses into use to supplement the efforts of some of the youths who had formed a bucket brigade. Another two fire tenders eventually arrived.
Compounding the already tense situation was news that a nine-year-old boy, identified as ‘Kevin,’ was missing.
This discovery sent family members into a frenzy as they searched for him.
The upper storey of the house was locked (heavily grilled) and for a moment it was feared that the boy might have been trapped inside the building. Family members and neighbours immediately sourced sledge hammers and started to break away the grill work in an attempt to get inside.
These fears soon diminished, as the boy was discovered at another house nearby.
Some two hours after the blaze was discovered family members were allowed into the gutted building, where they were observed foraging for whatever might have survived the fire.        
 

Tuesday, May 27,2008