A major disaster was averted early yesterday morning when a fire in the bottom flat of the building that houses Help & Shelter and the Commonwealth Youth Programme (CYP) on Homestretch Avenue was quickly extinguished by firemen.
According to reports the fire started in the administrator’s office of Help & Shelter on the bottom flat.
Speaking to Stabroek News last evening, Administrator Margaret Kertzious said almost everything in her office was damaged by water and smoke but she was quite relieved that the firemen quickly put the flames out.
She said that she received a call from members of MMC Security Services just before 6 am yesterday morning informing her that smoke was seen emanating from the building.
When she arrived firemen were desperately attempting to gain entry to the building and had already broken one of the grill doors. But Kertzious quickly opened the door with her keys and the men entered and extinguished the fire.
She said besides her office a small section in the upper flat of the building which houses the CYP was also damaged.
Kertzious said everything including her printer, fax machine, filing cabinet and chairs were damaged either by water or smoke. She said while the files in the filing cabinet were not damaged those that were left outside were damaged. Other parts of the bottom flat were also water-logged.
While Kertzious, who has been on leave for the past two weeks, could not say what started the fire, Stabroek News understands that a fan which was left on since Wednesday, the last working day for last week, was the source of the blaze.
Investigations are continuing.
