Prompt response by the Guyana Fire Service yesterday morning averted a potentially catastrophic situation when debris on a plot of land behind the RC Bettencourt Bag Factory on East Street went up in flames.
The origin of the fire is unknown but the possibility of it being deliberately started has not been ruled out, this newspaper was informed. The land is located at 352 East Street, behind the Bag Factory which is located opposite the Georgetown Public Hospital. The land is owned by the D’Anjou family of Linden.
An employee of the bag factory told this newspaper that he was working in the factory, when he noticed a huge fire behind the building. He said this was about 11.15 am but stated that judging from the intensity of the flames, the fire was burning for a while. He said he immediately raised an alarm and the fire service responded promptly. The employee said he first thought it might have been the intense heat of the sun that caused the debris to ignite but according to him, the firemen later told him that the fire appeared to have been deliberately started.
Managing Director of the factory Raymond Bettencourt told this newspaper that the land belongs to the D’Anjou family of Linden. He said the land once housed buildings but these had collapsed about three years ago. According to Bettencourt, after the buildings collapsed, the debris was left on the land. Bettencourt said that the owners showed very little interest in the land given their failure to remove the debris from the land. The businessman said he had offered to buy the land but the owners had refused.
He said he was extremely grateful that no damage was done to his property or to the buildings that immediately surrounded the plot of land. Bettencourt commended the firemen for their prompt response.
The property was originally owned by Alfred D’Anjou who recently passed away, this newspaper was informed. When Stabroek News contacted his relative Muriel Amsterdam she was unaware of the fire.
She said she returned to Guyana to live following the death of the property owner. She currently lives in Linden. She admitted that there was debris on the land but said this was not substantial. According to Amsterdam, when she visited Guyana last year, she arranged for some of the debris to be removed. The woman explained that prior to her departure she had made arrangements for the removal of the rest of the debris but said that these fell though after a family member fell ill.
The woman, however, opined that the debris could only come alight if someone had set it on fire. She also said that access to the land was limited since one of the neighbours had padlocked the gate preventing easy access to the plot of land. She said that this neighbour had indicated an interest in purchasing the land.
