By Saio Marrah
At least six households were left homeless after a fire engulfed a six-apartment building yesterday Tuesday afternoon at 44 Wellington Street, in Freetown.
Joseph Cerray, a tenant who managed to speak to Politico at the scene of the blaze, linked the outbreak to an electrical fault, and said there was no one in the apartment where the fire reportedly started.
He said initially their attention was to first rescue a visually-impaired elderly woman who was staying very close to the apartment, where the outbreak started, which made them unable to take out their properties before the fire spread into the long apartment building.
He praised the support from community youths in preventing the blaze from spreading to nearby buildings.
Another tenant of the burnt home, Nurse Idriss Tommy, who has five children and a wife, said he was at home when he got alerted about the fire outbreak in one of the apartments. He said they attempted to break into the apartment to put out the fire but were unable as it was locked up.
Tommy said they were unable to take out any of their properties as they could return to their apartments, with smoke having engulfed the whole place.
He said as soon as the fire broke out, their neighbours immediately called on the Fire Force, but they could not come to their rescue quick enough. He further noted that even that, it was the Aberdeen Fire Department that came, even though the main headquarters at Circular Road is not far away.
He noted that he had lost important documents in the fire including a deposit slip he had in his possession for his church.
He added that he also lost four million (Le 4,000,000) old currencies in the fire.
At the time of the incident, Tommy didn’t know where to pass the night with his family. He, therefore, called out for help.
The fire force officers who later came to the scene refused to talk to Politico. The other tenants were wailing as the fire swept through the wooden structure.
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