A waste oil-fuelled fire in a canal aback of the Guyana Power and Light (GPL) plant at Garden of Eden, East Bank Demerara last evening threatened fuel tanks and caused the generating sets to be shut down temporarily.
No significant damage was reported and by the time the fire was contained and doused, power to the affected areas had been restored. Later in the evening power to the East Bank as well as parts of the city was cut again and then restored.
The fire started shortly after 5 pm and according to persons close to the scene, at first a small flame was seen but it mushroomed quickly. Upon noticing the flames, employees of the building ran out and fire tenders were summoned. Foam was utilized to battle the flames.
When Stabroek News arrived on the scene at least three fire tenders were present there. Billowing gray smoke filled the air and at times the flames leaped higher than the buildings. Persons on the scene said that at times when the fire appeared to be under control, it flared up again. Sometime before 8 pm the fire was contained and extinguished.
While this newspaper was present, Minister of Public Works and Hydraulics, Robeson Benn along with Minister of Human Services and Social Security Priya Manickchand arrived on the scene. They went to the GPL buildings and after the fire was doused Benn spoke with reporters.
He told the media that the fire started at about 5:05 pm in a canal aback of the GPL facility. He said that waste oil that was floating on the water in the canal ignited causing the fire. It was not clear what caused the ignition of the waste oil. The minister stated that the fire was contained to the canal but some lantern posts were damaged and would have to be replaced. He said that the fuel tanks were near to the canal and the waste oil had also soaked into the soil for quite some time.
The minister declared that such an occurrence had happened before at the facility and the waste oil represents a “significant risk”. He asserted that the power company will have to do a risk assessment and put measures in place to mitigate those risks.
Noting that the Garden of Eden facility was an important one, Benn said that he had already spoken to Prime Minister Samuel Hinds, GPL Chief Executive Officer, Bharrat Dindial and the Chairman of the GPL board, Winston Brassington. He noted that the foam stored on the premises as well as those from the nearby Warstila station were used up and would have to be replaced.
Benn said that the GPL plant was taken down for safety reasons but shortly thereafter was back on line.
Dindial told Stabroek News that the Garden of Eden power station puts out 39 megawatts of power and services parts of the East Bank and Georgetown. The Garden of Eden system is interconnected with the Sophia Power Station.
