A fire at the Guyana National Industrial Company (GNIC) complex yesterday resulted in five buildings being scorched and two abandoned buildings sustaining substantial damage.
And with just a few weeks before the cricket world cup, firemen fought the dangerous blaze with hoses riddled with holes. The fire, which began around 2.50 pm, was raging when this newspaper arrived on the scene. Fire service personnel, using four tenders and several punctured hoses, were working on quelling the flames. Two fire tenders were accessing water, using some 400 metres of hose, from the Sussex Street and Princes Street canals.
GNIC Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Clinton Williams told this newspaper that when he got there the fire had already started. “I came and met the fire just like you.” He was therefore not in a position to say where it had originated or what might have caused it. He was also not in a position to give an estimate of the company’s losses. Insurance agents were in the area as the fire raged.
Fire Chief Lawrence David said last evening that the cause of the fire had not yet been determined, but investigators were on the ground. He said that the fire service responded at 3.15 pm with four vehicles.
He said they experienced no problem with water and were able to bring the fire under control. David said two buildings were severely damaged while some others were scorched.
As investigations were still ongoing at the time, the Fire Chief could not say as yet which building the fire started in. However, according to information reaching him, the fire began in the foundry.
The conflagration was at its most ferocious in the unused administrative section of the foundry of GNIC. The building was made of concrete and wood, with the section closest to Lombard Street built of concrete. GNIC staff said the upper flat of the building housed documents, while the bottom was the tools room.
A large warehouse located behind this building on the eastern bank of the Demerara River was scorched, leaving a gaping hole on the upper right side. This building, Stabroek News learnt, houses equipment used by the company and a manager was heard expressing gratitude that it was not extensively damaged.
Another unused wooden building of old colonial design north of the foundry also sustained substantial damage as early on in their battle against the flames, firemen sought to bring the blaze under control by demolishing it.
About three metres north of that wooden building is a clay brick three-storey structure that was also severely scorched but not damaged. The fifth building scorched by the fire is the Southern Dock Facility that houses materials and is used by workers at the wharf as a changing room.
The dock facility is located on the Demerara River bank and behind the two abandoned buildings seriously affected by the blaze. Having brought the fire under control, firemen then had to train their hoses on the dock facility.
Several persons, among them GNIC workers, gathered to observe as the flames ate away at the abandoned buildings. Meanwhile in a collaborative effort the police who were on the scene in their numbers assisted fire personnel by keeping eager observers at a distance and controlling traffic. Broad and Sussex streets were barricaded, while police south of the GNIC complex kept Lombard and other cross streets clear for the firemen to work.
