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Skeldon Market fire was electrical in nature – Fire Service
Kaieteur News – The fire which destroyed the Skeldon Market on Monday was electrical in nature, the Guyana Fire Service (GFS) reported on Tuesday.
The destroyed section of the Skeldon Market, Corriverton
“Preliminary investigations reveal that the fire originated from an electric fan left plugged into the wall of one of the stalls and switched on,” GFS said noting that the fan which was plugged into an outlet overheated and resulted in the subsequent ignition of flammable materials that were nearby.
Reports are that the Skeldon Market fire started just around 18:45h Monday and destroyed a section of the building.
Several stalls were destroyed, including two grocery stores within the market. Vendors and stall owners were reportedly angry at the Fire Services response time. Kaieteur News understands that the GFS did not arrive promptly at the scene and when they arrived, they ran out of water several times.
Several stall holders and first responders formed a bucket brigade to oust the fire ahead of the firefighters’ arrival. Some used hammers and other tools to break into their stalls and save their goods.
Notwithstanding the challenges experienced by the Fire Service, this publication understands that the GFS was able to contain the fire and prevent it from spreading to throughout the market.
“This is a sad moment for Skeldon Market, a lot of people got losses here tonight,” a resident noted.
Around 20:00hrs, sections of the market’s roof collapsed even as the firemen fought the blaze.
According to Anil Sugrim, a member of the Corriverton Town Council, the market rakes in at least $3 million in earnings monthly from vendors. While at the scene, Sugrim told Benchop Radio that in the past, an official of the GFS proposed that the Town Council places a fire hydrant at the southern section of the market.
However, the Mayor objected to the idea, and instead he proposed that the hydrant be placed at the front of the market.
Meanwhile, it was reported that persons attempted to loot stalls as firefighters attempted to save the market.
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