A fire of unknown origin on Sheriff Street yesterday laid siege to three buildings for over five hours as the fire service battled with water supply issues.
As the street was closed off to accommodate the fire service as they fought to gain control, a crowd of residents witnessed the fiery destruction of three buildings at Sheriff and John streets. When Stabroek News arrived at the scene at around 2 pm, dark clouds of smoke could be seen as the inferno destroyed the buildings. The fire started at the Associated Packers Industry building then quickly moved to the surrounding buildings, two of which belonged to businessman Frank De Abreu of DeSinco and the other for which the owner has not yet been confirmed.
Fire-fighters were seen observing the fire as the smoke billowed and the flames from the fire engulfed more of the Associated Packing Industry building, while some others could be seen trying to hose down the building in a unsuccessful attempt at extinguishing the flames. The upper flat of the building had been the only damaged part at the time. The building seemed to be burning from the northern bottom half before the wind seemed to blow the fire in a southerly direction. This caused the fire to spread rapidly from the first building to the one located on the western side of the building. During the first hour of the fire, it seemed to only cause damage to the top half of the building but as the hours passed, the fire quickly raged through the nearby buildings. Upon Stabroek News’ last visit to the scene, the fire had destroyed the building located on Sheriff and John streets and gutted the buildings located on John Street and the other on Sheriff Street. Scorch marks could be seen on the DeSinco Furniture store.
When this newspaper first visited the scene during the afternoon hours, the fire tender was out of water and the flames were spreading very quickly. At least four water trucks were needed to put out the fire but efforts were much delayed as water woes and the wind were key in sustaining the seemingly never ending fire. The crowd of onlookers voiced their concerns the whole time the building was on fire because the “fire service was not trying to out the fire.” “They ain’t got water,” one resident remarked.
As the fire-fighters continued to be hampered by the shortage of water making it difficult for them to contain the roaring flames, neighbours who were stricken with fear of their homes being engulfed due to the rapid spread of the flames could be seen moving bags filled with clothing and other belongings from their homes. They removed their mattress and other smaller pieces of furniture as well. Other persons, including the occupants of the Fitness Express building tried to douse the store’s exterior with water as the flames continued to rise, in an effort to prevent the building from being scorched and falling victim to the hungry flames.
The CEO of Associated Packers Industry, Mahindra Jaikaran, told the media that the building which first went up in flames housed both workers and storage for commodities. Jaikaran said he received a call at just about 1:30 pm and was told about the fire which caused road blocks at both Sheriff and John streets. He said that at the time that the fire started the employees were still in the building but they managed to safely evacuate before the buildings were engulfed. While De Abreu, the owner of the DeSinco buildings, was thankful for the safety of the employees he noted that the fire will be a “setback” for his business and at this time the amount of losses could not be assessed. He too was called to scene after the fire was well underway.
At just about 4pm, the Minister of Home Affairs Robeson Benn visited the scene after he noticed the thick smoke emanating from the building for over an hour. He said he was at his Brickdam office but decided to visit the scene, “What prompted my visit is that from my office I could see dark smoke rising for over an hour and I thought the fire would have been under control. Obviously it was not,” he wryly observed. He then told reporters that firefighters reported that water supply and lack of foam to tackle this type of the fire were the challenges which they were faced with. “The fire people are claiming intermittent supply of water from the mains and having to get foam to deal with the material that is burning,” Benn explained.
This was after he had assessed the situation and directed the fire officers on ground as to what measures could be taken to control the fire. He advised that they try to halt the source of the fire, as at the time it could be seen that the fire was being fed from a source in the bottom flat. A fire truck with a tender attached was brought in moments later.
Benn told the media he gave the officers an hour to get the fire under control. However, when Stabroek News revisited the scene last evening, the buildings were still smouldering. The firefighters were also still on the scene. The fire hydrant at Sheriff and Duncan streets was being used as the water supply to put out the fire. Notably, almost two hours prior to Benn’s visit, the fire-fighters had reasoned that the low water pressure was the cause for the delayed efforts in stopping the fire. As more persons in the area questioned the reason for the fire’s growth, the officers would respond by saying that the fire is under “control” however, the damage done is a clear indication that the fire was not under control until after the Minister showed up.
The Home Affairs Minister recommended that business owners should consider installing water sprinkler systems, especially for businesses which have storage. “What I want to say however, as a general rule now, I would want to see for businesses which have storage of this kind, food and oil and so on that they install fire sprinkler systems so that the earliest effort would be made to bring a situation like this under control,” the Minister said before he continued to assess the fire and direct the fire fighters on ways to bring the fire to an end.
