The quick action by employees of Hits and Jams Entertainment prevented the spread of fire at its Lance Gibbs Street, Queenstown studios after lightning struck a transmission tower during a heavy downpour yesterday, resulting in the company’s radio and television stations being temporarily off air.
Director of Hits and Jams Entertainment Kerwin Bollers said that lightning struck the tower, causing a surge in the transmission room, which in turn led to an ignition of electrical wires in the room, resulting in a fire.
The fire didn’t cause any major damage as one employee was able to use a fire extinguisher to douse the flames, while others moved to safety before summoning the Guyana Fire Service.
By time the fire tenders arrived, the situation was already under control and members of staff were seen standing outside looking on.
According to Bollers, everyone managed to evacuate the building without injury. In the meantime, both the company’s radio station, 94.1 Boom FM and its television station, HJTV, will remain off air as it assessed the extent of damage suffered as a result of the fire.
Back in July, Radio Mabaruma 95.1 FM, an affiliate of the National Communications Network (NCN), suffered a similar fate when the transmitting site, located on Broomes Hill in Mabaruma, in the North West District, was hit by lightning during a heavy storm.
Following this, a technical team from NCN was dispatched to Mabaruma to conduct repairs to the circuits on the transmission dish that were damaged by the lightning strike.
Meanwhile, the Guyana Power and Light Inc (GPL) issued a statement apologising for a power outage in the city, which it said was also caused by lightning during yesterday morning’s downpour.
The lightning, it said, affected three of GPL’s feeders emanating from the Kingston Electricity Generation facility, supplying customers in Georgetown, from approximately 10.43am.
The areas affected were Cummings-burg, Lacytown, Werk-en-Rust, Sophia, Prashad Nagar, Kitty, Queenstown, Alberttown and Kingston.
GPL assured that the feeders were isolated and visually checked prior to areas being repowered.
