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Police ranks questioned about Eve Leary fire — Fire Chief
Kaieteur News – Police ranks from the Guyana Police Force (GPF) who occupied the barracks at Eve Leary, Kingston, Georgetown, are now being interrogated over the inferno that destroyed the Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) building and sections of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) office on Saturday afternoon. This is according to Fire Chief, Kalamadeen Edoo, who also related that the origin of the fire is still unknown.
Fire Chief, Kalamadeen Edoo checking the firefighter’s report
Fire Chief Edoo, told this publication that they received a call at 13:50hrs on Saturday, alerting them to a fire at the location.
Firefighters from the central, Alberttown, West Ruimveldt and Campbellville Fire Stations were dispatched subsequently to the scene.
The Fire Chief told this newspaper that the fire reportedly started on the top floor of the western side of the building, in an area that is used as a living quarters for some ranks of the GPF.
It subsequently spread to other parts of the building, due to the aging wooden building and its contents.
As a result of the blaze, the entire living quarters, the OPR, the Construction Department, and Stores were completely destroyed.
Kaieteur News had reported last Sunday that prior to the fire tenders arrival, police ranks were seen throwing files out of the windows of the upper flat of the DPP’s office into the compound. The files, this publication understands, contain information on police cases and serious matters, which are before the courts.
By the time the flames were extinguished, some 98 percent of the legal documents had reportedly been saved.
Before and after
DPP’s Communications Officer, Liz Rahaman, in an invited comment said that she was alerted to the fire by members of the media.
“When we rushed down here, the fire was raging from the western [end] which houses the police offices in this compound. Luckily, the Fire Department [turned up] and we are so grateful for them that they were able to contain the fire…,” she added.
Minister of Home Affairs, Robeson Benn, speaking to members of the media, acknowledged that the losses could have been “tremendous” since local law enforcement has a legacy of operating via “a paper based system”.
Asked yesterday about interim storage for the DPP’s files, the Minister of Home Affairs said the files are being stored at the Police Training Centre at Eve Leary, Kingston, Georgetown.
The fire comes one month after the Brickdam Police Station was destroyed identically. That fire had destroyed the majority of the records stored there.
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