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Slack connection causes Charlestown fire
Kaieteur News – Wednesday night’s fire at Lyng and Howes Street, Charlestown was caused by a slack electrical connection, the Guyana Fire Service (GFS) said on Friday.
The blaze destroyed a three-storey wooden and concrete building that was home to Guyanese National footballer, Gregory Richardson popularly known as ‘Jackie Chan’ and at least 14 other persons.
The GFS in a statement on Friday stated, “The fire that destroyed a three-storey building in Charlestown two nights ago was caused by a slack connection to electrical points”.
According to GFS the slack connection caused overheating and led to arcing and sparking. The sparking then ignited nearby combustible materials and started the fire.
The building on fire
The fire did not destroy any other building but the extreme heat did cause damages to the walls and appliances of a nearby house. Some of the appliances damaged were listed as a television set, a stereo set, a refrigerator, and a fan. Two additional buildings, said GFS, along with a car and a motorcycle were also scorched by the heat.
The fire erupted sometime after 19:00hrs. Kaieteur News understands that the fire first started on the top flat of the building and quickly spread to the bottom flat. Luckily all of the occupants of the house managed to escape including a 99-year-old woman who was living on the bottom flat of the building.
The ruble that remain after the fire
Kaieteur News understands too that one individual sustained injuries to their back while reportedly jumping from the burning building.
Some of the residents in the area accused the firefighters of arriving without water and taking too long to respond to the fire.
However, when Kaieteur News arrived at the scene there were at least three fire trucks there. One of the trucks was connected to a hydrant in the area and within a matter of minutes, the GFS was able to contain the fire and prevent it from spreading.
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