An alert employee coupled with a quick response by the Guyana Fire Service, yesterday afternoon, averted certain disaster at the Ministry of Agriculture’s Hydrometeorological Office on Brickdam.
A fire was noticed by the employee at sometime around 17:00 hours in a cupboard in an office located on the top flat of the three-storey building.
Some of the scorched documents
A senior official told this newspaper that most of the employees had left the building, and as a senior staffer was about to leave, she noticed that the door of an office, which was suppose to be closed, was ajar.
Upon checking, flames were seen coming from a cupboard. The office in which the fire was observed is said to be occupied by an employee who is currently out of the country.
After the fire was spotted, an alarm was raised and the fire service responded promptly.
When this newspaper arrived on the scene, smoke was seen coming from a window at the top flat of the building. Firemen along with three employees removed documents which had been damaged by the fire.
As the burning documents were being removed, efforts to secure water to extinguish them proved futile. As the employees tried frantically to get water from the taps in the building, there was no running water.