Two Chinese nationals perished in a fire which early yesterday morning ravaged the Public Road, Vreed-en-Hoop home and supermarket they rented, along with three other buildings, all of which housed various businesses.
The names of the two persons are still unknown. At least 22 persons are now jobless and the business owners’ losses run into millions.
Jagash Mangal, who lives opposite the home of the two victims and in whose yard the duo would park their vehicle at nights, said that it was he who alerted others of the fire and who called for aid from the Guyana Fire Service (GFS), the police and the Guyana Power and Light (GPL).
“I wake up after 1:30 [am] like because my dogs were barking, barking. I have cameras so I checked them but didn’t see anything but the dogs just won’t stop. So I look out and I see smoke from the North Eastern building and I run to the phone to call 911,” he told Stabroek News.
“The 911 keep ringing out so I call La Grange [police] station and dem ask me if I called [the] fire [service] and I told them ‘no’ and they said they will call and I still called but I also say let me call GPL because I know [their] numbers and I thought about the electricity wires and so,” he added.
While the Lot 34 A and B properties are owned by Fazil Rayman, this newspaper was told that the others are owned by overseas-based persons who rent them out. They were all located at the Vreed-en-Hoop junction area, which is usually a busy business stretch.
83-year-old Rayman lives in the upper flat of one of his buildings and had to be helped out of it by his live-in help Akbar (only name given).
The buildings housed around eight businesses such as the Chow Singh Chinese Restaurant, Robin’s Book Store, Phone Guru, clothing stores and the Wishful Supermarket, where the two persons were found dead in the upper flat.
Some of the business owners were reluctant to speak with Stabroek News during a visit to the scene yesterday although they expressed concern over the lack of water when the fire service responded.
“What you want me to tell you? I lost everything and that could have been avoided if the fire [service] had enough water and more engines,” the owner of one of the clothing stores said when approached.
“I don’t want to talk about anything because I lose everything. That is all I want to say,” she added.
Fire Chief Marlon Gentle told Stabroek News that firefighters had to exercise caution as they responded to the fire that engulfed buildings that were over 100 years old. He said that at the supermarket, loud explosions were heard.
He related that the GFS received word of the fire at around 1:55 am yesterday and engines from La Grange, Leonora and West Ruimveldt responded.
But by the time the first fire engine got to the scene, the supermarket where the two dead persons lived had already been totally engulfed and loud explosions were heard even as the flames had already spread to the second building where the restaurant was located.
“The supermarket was already gone and the fire had already spread to the restaurant…there were explosions, we suspected from propane gas tanks, and some amount of caution in the distribution of water had to be had. We also had to ensure the safety of the men also. The power went out in the area and we were not sure of the situation because applying water to electricity was another hazard, and we know in that high tension area, we had to be very practical. [There were also] significant threats to other buildings such as the regional building and we were worried about the fire jumping the street,” Gentle said.
“You also had 50-feet high flames because we are dealing with the high winds from the Demerara River and Atlantic [Ocean] junction. You could have seen this fire from the East Coast and we had units calling from Ogle to find out. While there are concerns as to the response, we had to take (precautionary) measures and to also ensure the safety of the firefighters. There were so many different risks that we had to be very cautious,” he added.
The GFS, according to Gentle, gained control of the blaze after about 45 minutes and had extinguished it about one and a half hours after first responding.
He said that the two victims were found in the rear of the lower flat of the building and it appears that they were either trapped downstairs or perished upstairs and the bodies fell downstairs when the building collapsed.
And even as the fire department awaits the autopsies of the two persons that perished, the Fire Chief said that from preliminary investigations, the fire which consumed three buildings, likely started because of an electrical problem in the supermarket.
“We suspect that it started by some freezers and some electrical coolers. We understand that yesterday [Saturday], the owner and someone came to fix it. It is in that same area that all evidence shows that [the fire] started there,” Gentle said.
The Fire Chief said that the GFS also wants to know about the power distribution system of the buildings. “We are also having a look at how the electrical power is distributed; if each [business] had their own meter or it was shared power,” he said.
This newspaper understands that the businesses had about 22 employees in total.
Personnel from the GFS and the Guyana Police Force remained at the scene up to late yesterday afternoon. The Police took statements from the owners of the various businesses as their investigation also continues.
