Residents of Bartica were last evening excited to see a new fire tender responding to a blaze at a section of the interior community.

This newspaper understands that the fire occurred around 6 pm along Sixth Avenue, but a resident there noted that, “it was merely an electrical post on fire”.

The fire tender arrived in the community on Saturday and the fire station in the area is expected to be officially commissioned later this month.

Several weeks ago, residents in the community had expressed concern about whether the facility to house the fire station would be commissioned. The building was completed during mid-2009 and it was expected to be in operation sometime after.

Fire Chief Marlon Gentle told Stabroek News recently that the building was unfinished and according to him, the contractors were in the final stages of bidding for final works to be effected to the facility. He said at the time that the GFS planned to occupy the building by this month and according to him, in the event of a fire, there are trained volunteers in the area who are in possession of fire-fighting equipment.

The facility, which was built at the corner of Fourth Avenue and Fifth Street, was expected to be commissioned in July last year and Barticians had  expressed appreciation to the authorities for the venture, since they stated that there is usually no one to turn to when a building is on fire in the area. In recent years Bartica has endured several big fires and has had to rely on bucket brigades.