Three children perish in Mocha fire

May 27, 2022 News

Kaieteur News – Three young children tragically lost their lives during the wee hours of Thursday after their North Barnwell, Mocha Arcadia, East Bank Demerara (EBD) home went up in flames.

The aftermath of the fire

The grieving mother, Tracey Flue speaking with reporters

They were identified as eight-year-old Timothy Kippins, six-year-old Triston Kippins, and one-year-old Zhalia Flue. According to reports, the fire started after 01:00hrs.
Their mother, Tracey Flue, a security guard, was at work when she received the tragic news that her house was on fire. “I was at work and somebody call and seh yuh house on fire,” she told reporters.
The Guyana Fire service (GFS) stated that its command centre received the call around 01:25hrs and dispatched fire trucks from the Diamond and West Ruimveldt Fire Stations.
However, when the fire trucks arrived they were unable to gain access to the burning one-storey wooden building because of the deplorable state of the dam on which it is located.
Flue said that she rushed home from her job only to find out that her children were trapped inside the burning building. The fire fighters who responded, she learnt, could not save them.
Speaking with reporters, Flue was inconsolable. The woman said that she suspected that her ex-boyfriend had burnt the house down because he had threatened to do so in the past.
However, fire investigators were able to determine that the blaze was not maliciously set but “electrical in nature.”
The children’s demise even caught the attention of President Irfaan Ali who reached out to the grieving mother.
After returning from his Anna Regina trip for the country’s 56th Independence anniversary flag raising ceremony, the President, along with the Commissioner of Police (ag), Clifton Hicken, East Bank Police Commander, Denise Griffith and Fire Chief, Gregory Wickham visited Flue. They expressed their condolences and did their best to comfort her.