A fire yesterday afternoon destroyed the upper flat of a Duncan Street, Campbellville building and a quick response by the Guyana Fire Service prevented the blaze from spreading to nearby buildings.
Stabroek News understands that the fire started around 2 pm at Lot 248 Duncan Street, Campbellville, Georgetown.
The bottom flat of the building houses a vulcanizing shop while the other flats comprise nine apartments.
At the time, only one of the apartments was occupied by a foreign national. He was not at home when the fire started.
At the scene, Divisional Officer in charge of Operations, Andrew Holder told the media that the GFS received a distress call yesterday afternoon and they arrived at the scene within four minutes.
Upon arrival, Holder said the top flat of the building was “well alight”.
Firefighters immediately went into action and they managed to contain the fire about two hours after.
An investigation is underway to determine the cause of the fire.
The owner of the building, Forbes Garraway told reporters that he was in one of the apartments when he started to smell smoke.
“I was home here and I smelling something burning. I go upstairs and I check, I didn’t see nothing. So I seh well yuh know mussy those guys that does burn they copper through the street,” Garraway said.
He said that his neighbour then phoned him and told him that smoke was coming from the upper flat of the building.
Garraway said he immediately took two fire extinguishers and rushed upstairs. “I go upstairs with two fire extinguishers because I got like ten of it. I get into the apartment but the fire was in the room of itself. I slam down the door and it was a big, huge oven and I couldn’t have done nothing about it,” he added.
According to Garraway, the smoke was too much so he was forced to exit the flat. “….I had to lef it and come out. The smoke was too much for me so I had to just lef it and come out. It start choking me actually,” he said.
Holder told the media that firefighters experienced difficulty in sourcing water.
“Our initial response was to contain the blaze. However….we had some major difficulties accessing water. Nonetheless, after prolonged efforts to access unlimited or an open source of water, we were able to arrest the situation, bought it under control and we are currently in mopping up mode,” Holder related.
He added that the closest source to water was on Laluni Street, which Holder said is a “considerable” distance away.
Fire hydrants in the area, Holder said were not operational.
“We tried getting water from a canal, within minutes that was exhausted. Fire hydrants were non-functional. The fire service is currently in the mode of inspecting and operationalizing fire hydrants throughout the city but I must say today the fire hydrants failed us,” he said.
The building is a high rise and is close to others, many of which also house businesses. A telecommunications tower is also situated on the balcony at the top of the building.
As such, Holder said that he was “very concerned” while fighting the fire.
Holder further explained that initial access to the fire was gained by mounting nearby roofs. “When I got on the scene and had a proper appreciation of what was happening, I immediately called for our specialized vehicle which is our hydraulic platform with the long ladder….and that is what saved the day,” he said.
Holder stressed the need for fire extinguishers, smoke alarms and to some extent water sprinkler systems in high-rise and semi high-rise buildings.
Zameer Khan, the owner of a grocery shop which is situated next door to the vulcanizing shop said while he is glad that the fire was contained, he was not satisfied at the GFS response.
“I am glad that the fire out…..I didn’t please with the fire service response because the truck come and the water finish and they tek too long, long to do what they had to do,” Khan said.
Garraway was unable to estimate his losses. He said the building is insured.
