Garden of Eden blaze

The Guyana Power and Light (GPL) says its workers and the Guyana Fire Service fire-fighters’ dogged efforts saved the company from suffering serious losses in the blaze at its Garden of Eden Power Station yesterday.

In a press release GPL commended their efforts as the fire was located aback three large fuel tanks.

The company said the sea-dam trench where the fire started normally collects water from the power station and drains it near the Demerara River. However, oil leaks from the engines into the water and this may be the reason that the fire was sustained for more than two hours.

As a result the company was forced to shut down the Number Six Niikata engine that generates about four megawatts of power to areas along the East Bank Demerara.

GPL said its personnel are still assessing the damages. However, Transmission and Distribution engineers worked quickly to restore power in about 45 minutes and they have indicated that more work would be done on the affected structures tomorrow.