An early morning fire yesterday completely destroyed the Black Face hotel, disco and bar at 113 Half Mile, Wismar, Linden and damaged two neighbouring houses.
The fire was first spotted between 1:30 and 2 am yesterday in one of the rooms at the back of the upper flat. A young man said that earlier in the night he was standing across the road when he noticed a small ball of fire emanating from an electrical cable attached to the building.
A neighbour, Roxanne Wilson, who lives in a house at the back of Black Face, said that she was awakened to the shouts of `Fire!’. “I was sleeping when I heard like a fine voice saying Fire! Fire! Black Face on fire! So I get up and peep outside and I see this big fire coming from upstairs at Black Face.”
She said that she immediately called out to her two children and alerted them to what was taking place. “Then I called the ambulance station and tell them to call the fire station but it seems like forever that they tek to get here.” Wilson said.
Wilson then rushed to assist in evacuating two elderly persons who resided in the upper flat of the building where she lived. According her the intensity of the fire had caused all the windows of their house to break and had begun to scorch the building.
By that time scores of persons had rushed to the scene and had formed a bucket brigade in an attempt to put out the blaze in the upper flat of Black Face while they awaited the arrival of the firefighters. The fire was raging out of control and had begun threatening two nearby buildings. Residents had to abort their efforts on the disco to try to save the other two buildings.
A large number of persons were seen running to and from the most at-risk building which was just behind the disco. They spent approximately half hour dousing the building with water from barrels and drums. There was no running water in the area at the time. The firefighters arrived at 2:45 am and immediately focused their efforts at quelling the raging blaze which had already totally engulfed the hotel section of the building. However, the firefighters quickly ran out of water. There being no functioning fire hydrant nearby, they were forced to race approximately two miles to a creek (Buck Town) for refill – a process which was repeated five times before the fire was brought under control.
In the meantime, residents continued their efforts to save the neighbouring buildings. They, too, faced a water shortage and decided to brace for the worst by emptying the back building which was at the time most at risk.
As the fire intensified and the wind direction changed, all attention was then turned to the home of Gladson Sampson and his family. The family property had a salon close to Blackface and two flats of living quarters. Persons were forced to quickly cut some trees which were between the two buildings to keep the fire at bay. But their efforts became more risky every time the fire tender left for a refill. Anxiety had begun to rise and the Thompsons had to evacuate the salon.
Persons climbed to the roof of the building and waited for the return of the fire tender as fellow church sisters of the Thompsons started praying out aloud as the situation worsened. As if in answer to their prayers, the bauxite company, BOSAI’s fire truck arrived on the scene. It was their interventions that brought the situation under control. They worked hand-in-hand with the firefighters and in less than half an hour the massive inferno was under control.
Persons cheered and complimented the BOSAI men for their intervention. BOSAI’s fire truck carried a capacity of 2,000 gallons of water in comparison to the Linden fire truck’s 400-gallon capacity.
Mad grab
While some were making efforts to assist in quelling the fire, things got out of hand when the storage area of the disco was torn open. It was a mad grab for cases of drinks. While some were being honest in storing the beverages across the road, others made off with a large quantity.
The story of grab and run was different for the Thompsons. While they all stood close by to guard their home, they received word that persons were attempting to break into their shop which was a short distance away. However the intruders’ efforts were foiled by group of men who rushed to the scene.
While efforts were focused on putting out the raging blaze, curiosity arose about the whereabouts of the caretaker, Ovid Benn. When the fire started persons said that all the entrances to the building were well secured and no one saw Benn leaving. Many feared that he might have been trapped in the burning building. It was not until approximately 5:30 am when the fire was already put out, and persons were preparing to join in the search for him that he turned up on the scene.
Sharon Easton, a long serving employee of the disco was sitting across the road distraught at the sight of her place of employment being pulled down by the fire. Easton said that she last worked on Tuesday and had since been home on sick leave. “I had some medical things done and so I had to be home. I was asleep when them wake me up and tell me this place on fire, I sick but I couldn’t stay in I had to come out and see what really going on and imagine he (Benn) suppose to be here and nobody could find he… you believe that,” she lamented.
Clad in ¾ denim pants, white vest, blue cap and his white jersey thrown across his shoulder, Benn walked up to the entrance of the disco, pulled out his keys and opened the padlocked grill of the disco. Looking very puzzled and confused Benn was speechless and water filled his eyes. He was quickly taken away from the scene by police officers for questioning at a nearby shop.
He later told SN that he had secured the building around midnight before heading for Block 22. “I had some greens and some other stuff that I wanted to take home and so I close up de place and went home. I sat and was watching TV and fell asleep,” Benn said, adding that when he finally woke up and was heading back to the hotel where he usually stays all day and night, he met a man on the street who told him that Black Face was on fire. This, he said, made him very nervous and he rushed to the scene.
He told SN that it might have been an electrical fire since there was no other way the fire could have started in the upper flat. He said that six rooms were in the upper flat and the kitchen and other facilities were at the bottom.
According to Benn the bar was in operation that night and he had closed up around 10 pm on Friday. He remembered spending some time out of the building with some friends who were inviting him to another night club but he declined, purchased a loaf of bread and went in and had dinner. “It was then I decided to go and carry them thing home only fuh come back to this,” he said.
The owner of the property Thomas Giddings resides in the USA and travels regularly. He returned to the USA approximately one month ago and was due back in Guyana in a few weeks time. Giddings is an elderly man and had operated the hotel, disco and bar for decades. To many the building was a landmark.
Linden was hit by heavy rain and a thunderstorm on Friday afternoon. This resulted in frequent power outages. The rain subsided at approximately 7 pm and the electricity supply stabilized. However several persons on the Wismar shore complained of voltage fluctuations sometime after.
For years Wismar has been experiencing electrical problems to the extent that persons were shocked in their homes, electrical appliances destroyed by high voltage and a popular football player, Troy Richards aka Kang was electrocuted.
