The unsung heroes of the Ministry of Health’s fire which devastated the main building and an annex at Brickdam were the drivers, who are usually behind the scenes, and a few residents of Hadfield Street who together pulled 50 vehicles to safety as the inferno raged.
Ray Chance
Ray Chance, Transport Officer of the Ministry of Health often leaves work at regular hours but would sometimes show up to make spot checks at nights. Thursday night was not one of the nights he went back to check, but when news of the fire reached him at home some time after 3 am on Friday, he dashed to Brickdam vowing that the damage to the ministry’s fleet would be minimal.
Chance met a building ablaze, a compound clustered with fire fighting equipment, emotional staff at every turn and a fleet of vehicles at the mercy of the conflagration.
“I knew that the keys at the gate would be in disarray and they were. The guards simply could not find them so I dashed to my office, which is external, and grabbed the spare keys that I have for emergencies,” he related yesterday.
The chaotic scene he found on his return from the office threw the relatively calm Chance into a panic.
“Everyone was running wild and I made a mistake. I put the keys down on a vehicle in the compound and it was confusion to sort them out,” he said.
But he rounded up some drivers who had arrived on the scene and started to move, getting vehicles out based on the keys that they identified. Chance said that even the minister’s drivers pitched in and soon they were hustling vehicles out of the compound.
The scene was sheer drama, he said. He recalled that the heat was so intense it was difficult to even get close to any of the vehicles, but he was not willing to stand and watch the vehicles burn.
“I was concentrating on the ones at the back but then I remembered that we had vehicles in front so I ran to the front and jumped into a vehicle that was already alight and drove it out of the compound into Brickdam,” Chance recalled.
As he spoke two of the drivers who were part of the rescue efforts nodded saying that while they did not witness it, “Chance would do something like that”.
With the one vehicle in Brickdam out, Chance had no choice to but return to the back having realized that the two remaining vehicles in front were lost.
“Chance is the man to talk to,” one of the drivers present said declining to share the spotlight with the man who he said deserved the credit.
Chance told Stabroek News that he had never felt heat that extreme ever, but he simply could not give in and let the fire destroy the vehicles. He said that fortunately no one was injured while commenting that he missed injury.
He said about three vehicles had to be damaged in order for them to be removed from the compound because the keys could not be found.
“Break the glass, break the glass,” Chance said he recalled hearing adding that those words almost floored him. He said persons on the streets who were assisting were in a mad rush to break vehicles and get them out of the compound while he insisted on finding the keys.
In the end just three vehicles had to be damaged and that was because by then the fire was posing a serious threat. The effort to remove vehicles lasted just under an hour Chance related. He said that the majority of vehicles were in Hadfield Street and the others were at the Square of the Revolution.
He said that as far as the vehicles were concerned the ministry did not lose anything to theft since he carried out a physical check in the morning after the blaze and everything was accounted for.
“I am Transport Officer for the largest fleet in the whole country,” Chance said, adding that he had been in that position for three years, but had been with the ministry for some nine years.
At a personal level, the fire struck Chance hard since according to him it was like “watching your home burn.
“I shed a tear,” he added.
Congradulation Mr. Chance,you and others have dont a great job risking your lives to save what you can of your hard earned tax dollars.
Mr. Chan spoke of the HEAT and the CHANNA FINDINGS along with the plastic bag seems HEAT RESISTANT.
PS
SN!!why chappin dem blags? an nat publishin plenty? would our blogs get U hauled off the web or would they prevent the WELL TRAINED PROFESSIONALS from doing a proper job?
Great works,Mr. Ray Chance, Transport Officer of the Ministry of Health, and all those who were involved in one way or the other, in salvaging vehicles, etc…
Guyana needs people to do works like these, rather than hijacking the country. There are 2 categories of people residing within the shores of Guyana: those who are builders and those who are destroyers; you happen to come under the first category.
Congrats for a job well done!
What a guy, risking his life to save material things that can be replaced, these are the guys that when the boss is sick, they says boss we sick, the roof the roof is on fire we don’t need no water let the ::::::::;;;; b..n.
amen ra
Ever heard of the word decent or decency? I think not!
amen-ra, you seem to be saying and doing some strange things lately.
How old are you madame?Your criticism of MR.Chance is very hypocritical,the guy used his free will and decided he’s going to save those vehicles,it’s cynics like you with dictatorial minds who are fanning the flames of division amongst the Guyanese people.
rodrick what about you, do you know what decency means?
amen-ra , you disappoint me with your silly remarks . Mr.Chance is a hero and should be congratulated by all , for his patriotic action in saving those vehicles . The vehicles are owned by the state not the PPP and Jagdeo , amen-ra . I would like to opine that Mr.Chance and the other drivers , who helped him removed the vehicles , should receive national honours for their brave patriotic actions .
You are a disappointment to Amen-Ra the Egyptian sun god who gives life and no suggestion of death or destruction.
better man than you. one who love his country.
Congrats, Mr Chance. My prayer is that you don’t move from hero to victim status given the society in which you reside. Be careful and God bless.
The society in which we reside is just a reflection of the progressive corrosion of the moral character of its citizens. Surely we must wonder. Whenever a hero emerges, the plot thickens. Hopefully this is not the case here. Well done, Mr Chance!
Thank you Mr. Chance you are indeed a hero. Hopefully the PPP government will do the right thing and give you some national achievement award.
I hope the Government shows their gratitude to this man.
He is a Hero& an outstanding citizen.
He deserves free housing .
which hero in your country [your flag] get free housing.
A simple commendation will do,there is no need to give houses away, save someone in NY see if they will give you a house.
These are the things that make me emotional. The ordinary man ussing hell and risking life, while the cronies and politicans thief.
Being a Transport Officer I am sure that Mr Chance sees these vehicles not just as the Ministry’s but as his own.He would have been also aware or the risk in trying to save these vehicles.Well done ,sir. You took a chance and it paid off.
Some set MOH building on fire and others try to save what ever they can. Wonderful to know that Guyana still has some GOOD, Decent human being. Well done Mr. Chance!!! You are a hero indeed!!!
If it is such a biased newspaper why do you keep blogging here? they seem to publish all your trash so how come they are so biased?
this is a man who love his country, those of you who were educated in this country should repay the cost then you have the right to condemed.
SN, please allow my respone to this comment
samaroo,
Some people try hard to suck up and fit with their blogs, I speak whats on my mind.
stop you foolishness.
Well done MR.CHANCE, you’re hero,congratulations also to all the people who risked their lives along with you to do what you guys thought was the right thing.With people like you guys Guyana has got a future,Guyan belongs to you and all the other citizens that live in there.
Good Job! Mr Chance, There are those who feel that material things have no value. I wonder then, why do we need our ID cards, money or even clothing. If “they” value life so much, why do we have homeless people, hungry children and a divided Guyanese society. Mr Chance and others,including the firefighters, also took a risk, to save a material building, that has its sole task of ultimately saving lives and promoting health. I also know of those critics who hide behind repretuable institutioins like ‘Sandhurst’, a recognised military school in the UK, who like their older counterparts, have nothing to offer us (Guyana). They have in fact, disgraced themselves and seek to replace a system, with what they know only too well…IGNORANCE!!!!