OPR fire was electrical

The fire which gutted the OPR building last year
The fire which gutted the OPR building last year

The Guyana Fire Service (GFS) on Friday confirmed that the fire that ravaged the Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) last year was electrical.

In a statement, the GFS said that based on fire patterns, evidence gathered, eyewitnesses and scene examinations, the fire was ruled to have been electrical in origin.

On November 20, 2021, a fire erupted at the building of the OPR, located at the Guyana Police Force Headquarters Annex, Rabbit Walk, Eve Leary.

A prompt response from the GFS prevented the fire from spreading to the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), which is situated in an adjoining building.

However, the force’s construction department and barracks that were also housed in the building were destroyed. It was initially said that the fire was suspected to have started in the barracks, which were situated in the western section of the building.

According to reports, mostly paper-based files were saved from both the OPR and DPP offices. During the chaos, staffers from both offices had rushed into the building to retrieve those files.