-after fire destroys home

A father of two from Albion, Corentyne, Berbice is pleading for help after a devastating fire, suspected of being arson, destroyed his home in the early hours of Tuesday morning.

Fian Ally was the sole occupant of his two-storey wooden home at Lot 15, Albion, Sand Reef when flames ripped through the building, leaving nothing behind.

Ally, a welder at the Albion Sugar Estate, says he has lived in the house his entire life. Fully furnished and filled with memories, the home is now gone. In an interview with NCN News, Ally recounted how a quiet night turned into a fight for survival.

“Me don’t cook. Me nah smoke. Like about 2 o’clock I wake up this morning and I smelling smoke. I come downstairs and I check all over and nothing nah light but me nah come outside and check. Then I gone back and I drop to sleep and like in half and hour the smoke wake me up and me nah breathe too fine and when I wake up the whole house full ah smoke.”

Fian Ally

“When I come downstairs to the inside step and open the door, one big fire and big smoke. I could not come out deh. There is an outside step but the door nah open. I try to open the door but the door nah open cause obviously I don’t use that. And then me mind tell me open the window and come down pon this shed hay suh. And when I come down and go round at the back the whole downstairs deh pon fire,” he explained.

Firefighters from the Albion Estate and Rose Hall Town Fire Station rushed to the scene, battling the blaze as it engulfed the home. Despite their efforts, the flames had already spread in the two-storey wooden structure.

Now left with nothing but a scorched car and the clothes on his back, the father of two estimates his losses at around $7 million. Uncertain about his next steps, Ally is appealing to the public for assistance, but remains hopeful that he can one day rebuild his life and home.

“Any assistance people could help, the government, anybody could offer I would accept. Right now things hard and I gah go back to work and me ain’t get no clothes. Me ain’t get nothing…I really feel broken. But life got to go on. The most important this is that I come out, I survive. Once there is life, there is hope,” he said.