A huge fire sparked by channa bombs completely destroyed the Ministry of Health’s main building at Brickdam and an annex early yesterday morning, devouring decades-old records, vehicles and a string of key divisions in a major blow to the health sector.
The raging inferno erupted some time before 3 am and rumbled on for three hours amid a downpour and a valiant campaign by the Guyana Fire Service to save three buildings in the ministry’s southern wing and its immediate neighbour, the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC).
The conflagration levelled the offices of two ministers, permanent secretary, chief medical officer and administrative staff, the Registry, Disease Control Unit, Adolescent Health Unit, Tobacco Control Unit, Standards Department and a section of the Accounts Department in ruins.
The Ministry of Health maintained records for health professionals and from health centres across the country. It was also housing some records for the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation. However, a portion of the records destroyed were computerized and can be retrieved from a back-up system which was saved.
The police in a statement last night said that patrols arrived at the scene at about five minutes after a report had been made to 911 and saw the top flat of the main building engulfed in flames.
“On checking around the compound they discovered a large bottle along with what smelt like a flammable substance with channa and a wick. Further checks were made around the compound and two security guards were seen. They alleged that they saw smoke at the top flat of the building and raised an alarm. A third guard was later found at the Hadfield Street entrance and he alleged that he had gone to release vehicles from the compound into Hadfield Street.
“The main building was extensively burnt, also four vehicles in the compound were damaged. A room in a building south east of the main building was scorched. The louvre windows were discovered damaged and pieces of glass and channa were found on the inside and outside of the building.
“Several items inside the room such as condoms and medical equipment were damaged. The damage was not caused by the fire emanating from the main building. In fact the fire from the main building never reached that building.
“A further search of the compound unearthed a bag with two complete bottles with a suspected flammable substance, wicks and channa and three broken bottles with channa.
“Up to this afternoon fire service personnel and police ranks were still combing the scene”, the police said.
Two of the buildings spared were handed over to the ministry for use but a third is still under investigation after an explosive device was linked to the building.
Questions have since been raised about security and where exactly the security officers on duty were at the time of the alleged attack. There are also concerns as to the reaction time of the officers and how soon the fire service was alerted.
Health Minister Dr Leslie Ramsammy seemed assured yesterday that after the police completed their investigative work it would be found that there had been security breaches. He said security has always been a problem for the ministry, adding that only recently a new firm had been contracted.
He said the health sector is often at the centre of threats whenever there is unrest in the country adding that whenever there is protest action people would pass and throw remarks such as, “you’re next” in reference to the ministry. But there had been no such threats in the past few months, he said.
According to the minister, if the ministry was directly targeted, “it is sad and despicable” because the ministry does not belong to a political party or one group.
Ramsammy declared that the Ministry of Health is the property of the people of Guyana and that it serves a public good, and he questioned why anyone would want to make that ministry a target or any other ministry.
“Why this ministry? Why the Ministry of Housing or why any building?” he asked yesterday recalling that a fire had also destroyed the housing ministry on Homestretch Avenue a few years ago.
He also dismissed questions pointing to recent allegations surrounding him saying that there can be no possible link to the fire.
“Let us not go stretching and looking for a story that is not there. It is an absurd story… I am done with that,” the minister said.
Ramsammy called the press conference at the National AIDS Programme Secretariat (NAPS) to say that the work of his ministry continues. He said the ministry is not intimidated and was focused on being fully operational again by next Monday.
No chance
It is unclear at what time the fire service was alerted about the fire but when the first tender arrived at the scene the ministry was already engulfed in flames and “well on its way” to burning flat, according to a fireman at the scene. He said that the ministry had no chance of surviving the blaze even with the greatest of efforts.
Deputy Fire Chief Winston McGregor in an interview at the scene told reporters that the first of five fire tenders deployed to the scene started rolling from the central base within seconds of the call, but turned up and met a building well ablaze.
However, he said the fire service’s operational strategy was put in place to contain the blaze, adding that firemen fought hard to reduce the damage.
McGregror told reporters at the scene that the fire service would have been able to do
much more in terms of a response had it been notified earlier.
“The men worked well,” he said while noting that his comments can be termed as subjective.
A flaming early morning sky and thick smoke covered the upper half of Brickdam at around 3:15 am when Stabroek News arrived on the scene. The fire service was already in firefighting mode and had surrounded the ministry using Brickdam and Hadfield streets.
Brickdam and its environs were blanketed in darkness following a power cut, illuminated only by the fire gutting the building. An intense heat drove back curious onlookers, barring anyone from proceeding beyond the Independence Arch at the head of Brickdam yet a handful of determined residents pressed forward to get a closer look.
The old wooden superstructure of the ministry started to disintegrate within some 30 minutes of the fire; the eastern section caved in first. It was about 3:40 am when the eastern section housing Ramsammy’s office among others collapsed.
With manpower of close to 50 and generators pumping water from the Brickdam and Hadfield Street drains, the fire service moved swiftly and after an hour was able to reduce the threat to neighbouring buildings and the southern wing.
Residents eager to assist charged into the ministry’s compound from the Hadfield Street gate and jumped right into fire-fighting mode. Other residents realized that the vehicles in the compound were at risk and immediately started a mad rush to save them.
The scene was a chaotic one as employees of the ministry who had gathered at the scene and residents in the area rushed to clear the compound of vehicles. Keys which are usually stored at the security hut in the compound were missing, forcing the staff to push several vehicles out of the compound.
Ramsammy yesterday confirmed that the ministry had lost three fairly new vehicles assigned to the National Blood Transfusion Service, which were in the western section of the compound, but he said they managed to save 50 other vehicles.
Emotional
Ramsammy gave a brief interview at 4:10 am when the fire had already destroyed the main and annex buildings. He told reporters that it was difficult to watch the buildings go down and feel helpless at the same time.
He recalled leaving the office at 10 pm on Thursday along with his driver and two secretaries only to receive a call later that the ministry was burning.
Since he was the last employee at the ministry to leave Ramsammy has been asked to provide a statement to the police. He said yesterday that his driver and his two secretaries would also give statements.
“I wish I was there, but don’t know what I would have done anyway,” Ramsammy said shrugging his shoulders. He was being comforted every few minutes by staff and colleague ministers who arrived on the scene as the word spread.
Public Service Minister Dr Jennifer Westford was among the first to show up followed by Human Services Minister Priya Manickchand. Some time after Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee and Culture Minister Dr Frank Anthony turned up.
Ramsammy appeared to have been doing okay though he looked distressed, but shortly after during another on-the-spot interview with reporters he broke down.
Teary-eyed and visibly emotional Ramsammy pointed to the burning building and said, “My life’s work is in there. A lifetime of work is in there”. He referred to the fire as a significant setback, but vowed that the ministry’s work “must continue”.
Shaking his head and with his eyes lowered the minister called the fire a tragedy saying that its impact is devastating. He noted he had been minister of health for ten years.
The Health Ministry was one of the few surviving structures considered part of the national heritage of the country. The building had once housed Queen’s College.
Support
Ramsammy mentioned that he had received a tremendous amount of support within hours of the fire saying that everyone seemed genuinely affected. He said yesterday that the staff of the ministry has been “focused and committed to the process of moving forward” from the minute they realized that the ministry was no more.
He said he had received calls from donor partners and technical partners in and outside the country. Specifically, he noted that he received calls from Dr Margaret Chan, Director General of the World Health Organisation and Michel Sidibé, Executive Director of UNAIDS.
He said too that telephone calls also came from colleague ministers in the Caribbean all expressing solidarity. Ramsammy said that he was moved by the support, but he was particularly touched when ordinary citizens made contact to say how affected they were.
At the press briefing, he disclosed that he was meeting with technical and donor partners in the afternoon to discuss a way forward and to “begin the work of rebuilding the ministry of health”.
‘I saw smoke’
Stabroek News spoke with one of the security officers on duty at the time and the woman recalled seeing smoke some time after 2 am coming from the top flat of the building. She was at the security hut at the main entrance of the ministry and according to her, no flames were visible at that time.
“I only see smoke; so I call the base and tell them call the fire service,” she recounted.
She was a bit flustered but related that two other security personnel were at the back of the building making routine checks when the fire broke out. According to her, efforts to locate the other officers later proved futile.
However, at his press conference Ramsammy said there were only two security guards. He could not say if the guards had also been questioned by the police.
The woman insisted that she saw nothing strange on Brickdam saying that she had no idea what the other security officers saw while making checks at the back. She was unable to say how soon the fire service arrived after she contacted her security base.
The People’s Progressive Party (PPP) released a statement yesterday saying that it was saddened by the destruction of the building and concerned at the initial evidence that pointed to the work of arsonists and terrorists.
The party said the building was one of the nation’s beautiful pieces of architectural heritage and called on the security forces to thoroughly investigate the incident and bring the perpetrator/s to justice.
Additionally, the party said that the fire has coincided with “attempts by some fringe elements to try to heat up the political situation.
“The demonstrations and provocations of the police were no doubt deliberate to court arrest in the hope of gaining support. It appears to have been intentionally designed to create an atmosphere for arson and terrorism in the society,” the statement said.
Meanwhile Opposition Leader Robert Corbin speaking yesterday on the incident said the nation could ill afford such destruction at this time.
Speaking at the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) weekly press briefing, Corbin told reporters that he was unaware of the origin of the fire, but noted that other mysterious fires had haunted other government buildings and ministries over the years.
He also expressed hope that the fire is investigated thoroughly.