-fire service

Investigations by the Guyana Fire Service have confirmed that the fire that claimed the lives of three girls and destroyed a dormitory at the Waramadong Secondary School was caused by a candle that was left unattended.

Fire Chief Lawrence David said that the flames caught on to nearby combustible material and spread and since there was no major attempt to fight the fire, it consumed the building. The fire occurred on the night of August 31, when the students were preparing for the first day of the new school year the following day.

Zanita Sam, 11; Savylin David, 13; and Sharmileza George, 13 all of Kubenang, Upper Mazaruni in Region Seven (Cuyuni/Mazaruni) were those who perished. Following the fire, an investigator from the fire service was dispatched to the area.

Meantime, Regional Chairman, Holbert Knights told Stabroek News that classes resumed at the school last week and the girls are now housed in the new male dormitory.

He said the reinstallation of the water and electrical system had been completed. He noted that the school is normally powered by a generator but that night it experienced mechanical problems which have since been fixed.

Knights recalled that the girls had arrived at the school that day and were unpacking and apparently they fell asleep, leaving the candle lit. He said that the three girls were in the upper flat of the building. He dismissed reports that they were locked in; stating that only the main door for the building was usually locked. He stated too that some students had jumped out of the upper flat to escape the fire.

Minister of Education, Shaik Baksh had told the media that the secondary school is responsible for educating 450 children who come from a number of Amerindian villages in the proximity of Waramadong. He had said that Cabinet would be approached to have the dormitory rebuilt as soon as possible.

Meanwhile, Knights pointed out that sections of the new Bartica Secondary School are yet to be completed and it is “two and a half years behind schedule”.

He said that it had been hoped that the students at the old school would have been transferred to the new school at the beginning of this term but that has now been pushed back to the end of the year. “All of that is hinged on the road being fixed at that time”, Knights said.

The new school is located three miles out of Bartica and Knights said that when a team from the Ministry of Education visited it was agreed that it would have been too difficult and “stressful” for students and staff to use the road two times daily in its present state.

He noted that outstanding issues with regards to the school included the bigger dormitories, and the footpaths and lawns are yet to be completed.
He contended that in the past several months, the construction crew was more of a skeleton staff and this is a significant factor in the delay in completing the school. He said that Courtney Benn construction company had been awarded the contract to build the school.