Latest update January 17th, 2025 6:30 AM
Arson suspected in Regent Street blaze
Police and fire officials are probing suspected arson in the shopping hub of Regent Street, Bourda that destroyed the C&C Prestigious Styles and Julius Variety Store at around 03:00 hrs yesterday.
The property is located in a two-story building at Lot 135 Regent Road, Bourda and is owned by the Mentis family from North Ruimveldt.
Fire Chief Marlon Gentle told this publication that his investigating team is treating the fire as the work of arsonists. Gentle said they have come to this theory based on a telephone call they received from someone and based on information received from persons in the immediate environs.
One of the family members told Kaieteur News that the building housed two separate stores; C&C Prestigious Styles and Julius Variety Store which is also known as the ‘Baby Store’. The family has owned the property since the 1930’s.
The remains of the family business
The bottom flat housed the variety store while the upper flat housed a boutique. All was not lost since some of the items from the upper flat were salvaged.
Mentis said he was told by fire ranks that the blaze started from the front of the store and spread to the back. He attributed the extent of the damage to the flammable items in the store.
The family member told this publication that he arrived on the scene around 04:30 hours. He said fire officials are still sourcing the origin of the blaze.
The businessman said he too is unclear as to how the fire may have started.
Meanwhile, the Guyana Fire Service came in for high praise from the business community as they were able to contain the blaze to one building. Many business owners who have properties in close proximity said that the fire service responded promptly.
The Fire Chief speaking about the response, said that given the time of the morning they received the call they were able to respond promptly.
“There was not much traffic in that area which is usually busy but given the time we got the call we were able to respond promptly and to get the needed equipment to the location very fast.”
Gentle said that everything else was in their favor since they were able to source water quickly from a nearby canal without any hindrance.
Comparing yesterday’s morning scene to the tragic fire early this year on Regent Street, Gentle said the condition of the building also aided their fire fighting work.
He explained that the unlike the previous fire on Regent Street the building which was destroyed yesterday was relatively strong, compared to the one in which the fire started during the previous fire.
“In the first fire the building was very old so the fire spread very quickly but yesterday the building was in very good condition so the fire took a while to spread…there were buildings very close too but we arrived promptly and we were able to do a good job,”.
On July 31st last four buildings which housed several businesses were gutted in an early morning inferno on Regent Street. Among the businesses destroyed were Boyo’s Fashion, Clairans, Indra’s Fashion, Lucky Dollar and several other clothing stores owned by Chinese nationals.
One business owner Ramdat Shiwprasad, 64, owner of Indra’s Fashion collapsed and died during the fire after seeing his business go up in flames. Four Chinese Nationals were also rescued from one of the burning buildings, by fire fighters after being trapped for sometime.
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