—leaves four persons homeless
By Adrian Smith
A fire at Skeldon, Upper Corentyne, has left four persons homeless, after destroying a two storey hotel and restaurant as well as a bar belonging to Rovindra Datt.
According to Wong Haisang, who runs the Liberty hotel and bar, he was alerted at about 8.30 pm on Saturday by someone outside that there was smoke coming from a room upstairs. He told Stabroek News that when he went to investigate he found the room filled with smoke, and although he used a fire extinguisher to try and put out the fire, his efforts were futile.
He related how he immediately informed the owner of the building, Rovindra Datt, who lives in a section of the bottom flat with his wife. The owner took a look and also realized that the fire was getting big. According to Wong Haisang, the Guyana Fire Service (GFS) responded promptly from the station at Skeldon, but within a few minutes of hoses being trained on the blaze, the tender ran out of water.
They left and went for more water, but when they returned, Wong Haisang alleged that a couple of the firefighters, instead of concentrating on the spreading fire, were busy unpacking beers from the businessman’s freezer.
The owner of the building said that the business place could have been saved if the men whom the Guyana Fire Service employed had been more professional in how they went about their work.
According to Datt, when it was suggested the firemen take water from the sideline canal they declined because they said their hoses would not be able to suck water from there. He subsequently directed them to a large tank filled with water located in the compound next to the burning building, and again they demurred. They told him, he claimed, that the water in the tank was insufficient for the task.
According to the businessman the fire tender from Guysuco came later and took water from the same sideline canal, and the company’s employees tried with all their might to douse the flames, but by the time they had arrived it was too late. He speculated that if the GFS had done what Guysuco did only a part of the building would have been destroyed.
Datt said that none of the firefighters from the GFS was in official uniform.
Stabroek News was unable yesterday to get any comment from the Skeldon branch of the Guyana Fire Service about the allegations.
The upper flat had hotel rooms, while the bar operated in the lower flat. Stabroek News understands that there were no guests in the rooms upstairs.
Neither Rovindra Datt nor Wong Haisang could quantify their separate losses.
