Fire set to a garbage heap damaged a Caterpillar engine and two fuel tanks at the Guyana Power and Light (GPL) Sophia station yesterday after remnants ended up in a drain holding waste oil from company’s operations.
The fire erupted north of the compound, where the drain runs parallel, some time after midday, igniting the engine unit and fuel tanks.
Police in a statement yesterday evening said that investigations have revealed that employees were refuelling one of the generators when they observed fire coming from that drain. The police said that the employees tried to put out the blaze but were unsuccessful.
The police statement said that residents in the area normally use the rubbish heap to stock and burn garbage. The heap is adjacent to the drain in which the waste oil spills.
“Information has been received that rubbish was burnt earlier and the remnants of the fire may have been drifted into the drain and started the fire,” the police said.
Some officials at the company were saying yesterday the blaze was deliberate, but the police statement made no mention of this.
Reports are that the fire service’s prompt response and swift action to contain the blaze averted a major disaster. Three fire tenders were deployed as part of the firefighting operation.
Some GPL officials at the fire site commented that the fire appeared to be the work of arsonists, but Prime Minister Sam Hinds while confirming that he also heard the comments told reporters yesterday that he was not in a position to say.
Hinds said the evidence on the ground suggests that someone was burning something outside the compound and that there may have been leakage resulting in the fire.
“…That’s the story I am told from one person on the ground and at the moment it seems like a reasonable analysis, but we will have to await a more formal report,” the Prime Minister added.
Chairman of GPL, Winston Brassington said yesterday that if someone was not burning rubbish the fire could not have started on its own. However, he noted that the fire service report would indicate what exactly happened.
Brassington said the generation set which was damaged was leased from Macorp and therefore, the company power did not actually suffer any losses. He explained that it was a 1.2 megawatt engine which was damaged, adding that those Caterpillar engines are one fifth of a normal Wartsila engine of five and a half megawatts.
The 1.2 megawatt Caterpillar engine is generally used during peak periods when the load goes up, Brassington said, noting that those diesel engines are in place to meet peak demands. He said that on Saturdays those engines are not typically required during the day.
He added that he would have to find out what effect the fire would have on supply, adding that the fire have resulted in the damaged engine being taken offline.
Brassington explained that Georgetown is powered by the Sophia station among several others. He pointed to the stations at Kingston and Garden of Eden along with Sophia as being among the main power supply stations for the city.
He said too that the lease arrangement with Macorp was extended to allow GPL to have back-up power until the new 21 megawatts Wartsila engine comes on line. This, he said, is expected in September.
Brassington declined to comment on whether there are regular explosions at the Sophia station as suggested by residents in the area saying that “the operations people would have to do that”.
No one in the North Sophia area in proximity to the power station could say who lit a fire outside the compound. There was a visible burnt heap, but one resident said yesterday that “it could have been there before”.
“I didn’t see anyone light a fire though I must say that I was not standing outside here all the time,” the resident said. The man related that he and others in the area are used to frequent explosions within the Sophia compound, adding that his initial thoughts were that it was another explosion that started the blaze.
The man said too that he has witnessed on a few occasions the fuels tanks being refilled in the compound and “saw overspills because they were not paying attention to what was happening”.