Latest update November 27th, 2024 1:00 AM
Suspected electrical fire guts section of Fogarty’s building
Scenes from the fire yesterday.
Kaieteur News – It was a major scare yesterday after a fire suspected to be of electrical origin erupted and gutted a kitchen section of the Fogarty’s building located on Water Street, Georgetown. Other sections of the Fogarty’s did not suffer much damage but thick smoke had spread to other parts of the building. After the fire was contained, those areas had to be ventilated.
Fire Chief Marlon Gentle told reporters that around 09:32hrs, the Guyana Fire Service (GFS) received calls of smoke emanating from the building.
Navitri Narine, who operates a pharmacy in the Guyana Post Office (GPO) Building said that around 9:30 hrs, she smelled something burning but took it for granted. However, a few minutes later, she saw smoke emanating from the eastern end of the building. She added that she owns a storage bond in the Fogarty’s building which was situated not too far away from where she saw the smoke.
Narine continued that she called the GFS right away and was told that firefighters were already on their way.
The business-woman said they arrived shortly after and had a little trouble with access to water and their hose, but did manage to control the blaze.
Gentle explained as well that the congested street leading to the building was a minor setback. He said that it took them eight minutes to clear the streets of traffic before they could efficiently get to where the fire was.
Gentle went on to congratulate his ranks for attacking the fire quickly in order to prevent the flames from spreading to other parts of the building.
He said that it is a high-risk area and could have been disastrous. Gentle reminded reporters that in 1945, a fire had erupted at that exact location and had destroyed the entire block. The Fire Chief added that he is quite grateful that history did not repeat itself yesterday.
An investigation has since been launched into the fire. According to the fire chief, the fire started in the kitchen area and is believed to be electrical. Gentle said his team told him that it might have been a faulty extractor fan.
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