-losses estimated at $32M
An early morning fire of unknown origin yesterday destroyed a furniture bond at Mon Repos East Coast Demerara.
According to reports, the fire started at approximately 1:30 am and quickly swept through the wood and zinc structure that housed furniture belonging to the Highway 401 Furniture Store, located on the Mon Repos public road, East Cost Demerara.
Residents living in close proximity to the Lot 38 Second Street, Mon Repos bond said that they were awakened by a loud explosion. Upon investigating, they realised that the bond was on fire.
In an interview with this newspaper, proprietor of the bond Saudia Khan said that she had still not received information from the Guyana Fire Service (GFS) as to what may have been responsible for the origin of the fire. A visibly distressed Khan said that their loss is estimated at some $32M, which included both the bond and its contents. “We had all our storage for our business in this bond, we loose a lot,” Khan lamented.
Meanwhile, residents in the area said that they were pleased by the fact that the GFS had arrived on the scene shortly after the blaze started but expressed disappointment at what they termed a “sloppy job” done by the firemen. “Dem in do no proper job, look all de fire still blazing away and the smoke affecting we. I thought dey job as firemen was fuh put out de fire before they go away,” a resident lamented.
According to them, several persons had to evacuate their homes because of the smoke.
The houses on the left and the right of the building were severely scorched by the blaze. When Stabroek News visited the scene at 11:00 am, the skies were filled with thick black smoke and the fire still blazing.