According to Garfield Benjamin, Section Leader of the Guyana Fire Service, by the time the firefighters arrived on the scene at the Camp Street Prison on March 3, and were able to assess the situation, the majority of the damage had already occurred and most of the lives had already been lost.
Testifying before the Commission of Inquiry (CoI) into the March 3 incident that saw 17 lives lost, Benjamin stated that by the time they arrived and looked through the vents to the Capital A Division, there were only pockets of fire remaining, an indication that the fire had already burnt out. Under re-examination by Joint Services counsel Eusi Anderson, he estimated that 75% of the losses had already occurred.
When he arrived on the scene and ascended the stairway to Capital A, there were no screams coming from the
