The Humphrey’s building on Main Street was early yesterday morning destroyed by fire and residents in the neighbourhood reported hearing loud explosions just before it started.
The fire of unknown origin started around 2 am at the Main and Holmes streets building, said to be about 100 years old, and despite the valiant efforts of firefighters, the wooden structure was quickly consumed.
Residents told Stabroek News that they heard two thunderous explosions before the fire and when they rushed out they saw a car departing the scene. Flames, they said, quickly engulfed the old wooden building. The fire service responded quickly but there wasn’t much that it could do as the fire had already spread. A vehicle, GJJ 3407 which was parked in the area was partly damaged.
The three-storey building was owned by H.G Humphrey and Frandec Travel Services under the company H&F Inc and it housed four businesses—Frandec Travel Services, the LIAT office, Dagron’s Travel Service and Humphrey’s Hardware Store. Frandec, with a staff of 26 persons, was the largest employer while the other companies had about 11 persons employed among them.
When Stabroek News arrived on scene hours after the fire, the shell of the building was still smoldering while a few police officers were standing in the cordoned off sections. Several employees from the various businesses turned up and they hugged each other as the viewed the gutted building. Officials of the Guyana and Trinidad Mutual Fire Insurance Company also visited the site yesterday morning and were seen taking photographs and speaking to firemen and officials from the building.
The owners of the building had been in a dispute with the owner of the building next door on Main Street. That building was constructed very close to theirs, prompting complaints. The owners and the owner of the building under construction are in court and there has been no further construction work for months since litigation began.
According to Kathryn Eytle-McLean, Chief Executive Officer of Frandec and a Director on the board of H&F Inc, she received a call from one of her employees informing her that the building was on fire. The woman said she immediately contacted MMC Security Services, which is hired by Frandec, and received confirmation about the fire. By the time she rushed to the scene, the building was almost destroyed but firefighters were there containing the blaze. “…I dragged on my clothes and came down here and that was when the reality hit me because… I could see the fire up in the building and I was ‘Oh my God…’” she recalled at the scene.
She said by the time she had arrived the top floor of the building was almost gone and the flames had taken over the rest of the building. She could not say what triggered the fire but said persons in the neighbourhood told her about a car circling just before the fire started and the guard on duty indicated that he heard a loud ‘bang’ before he saw the fire. “He [the security guard] just said that all he saw was smoke coming from the top floor and then he heard a loud bang and then this huge flash of light and then fire. But the top floor is unoccupied,” she explained. “…I was standing up here [earlier in the morning] and the whole of Tiger Bay was out and some people said they saw a car but the security guard said he did not see that and he said this is a busy area and a lot of cars are always in the neighbourhood. But other people said they saw a car circling three times earlier so I don’t know… we have to wait for the fire people,” she added.
She praised the fire service for the work done but was somewhat upset about the delayed response by members of the Guyana Police Force. “But I must say they [the fire fighters] did a wonderful job, the police came when the sun was up, which was a little disturbing for me. It was about 5:30, 6 they showed up. The fire service did a good job…,” she said.
Late yesterday afternoon, after meeting with her staff, Eytle-McLean said all 26 of her employees will remain on the job and from today their new offices would be at 350 ‘B’ Main Street. She said the “company would go on as everything is online.”
According to her, Frandec has been in existence for 50 years and it was once housed on America Street. She revealed that Francis de Caires was the name of the company before and it became Frandec and when the company moved to the Main Street location in the 1960s, the travel agency was opened. “My mom, who is the backbone, she has been with the company for 55 years. She is actually on a plane right now to Australia; she hasn’t heard the news yet. I mean, we are thinking, my brother who lives in Jamaica, he and I are thinking how to tell her because we don’t want her to pack up and come back because she is gone for a month on a cruise,” she said.
Peter Fraser, another Ddrector on the board of H&F Inc, said that the fire brigade got a call around 1:20 am and arrived about five minutes later. He also could not say what triggered the fire but said he is awaiting a report from the Guyana Fire Service.
Fraser said the building was about 100 years old. The building was once owned by the man who built and owned the Hotel Tower and was then owned by R.G Humphrey & Sons. “That was before my time you know and I was not born yesterday,” Fraser said.
Fraser and Eytle-Mc Lean estimated their losses to be in the millions and they confirmed the ongoing court matter in connection with the building being erected next door.
Meanwhile, General Sales Agent at the LIAT office Stephen Michael reported that the office was their only one in Georgetown but they also have an office at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport, Timehri. He said about four persons were employed at the city office and everything they had in the office was destroyed. However, he said arrangements have been made to have reservations made at the airport and persons who would have purchased tickets have no problem as all information is electronically stored and can be accessed at the airport office. LIAT had been at the building since June 2005.
Rachel Hibbin, who said she is connected to the building through her aunt and is also a director on H&F Inc, recalled that that the building was once a cigarette factory. Holding up a framed photograph of what the building looked like in its heyday, Hibbin said that while cigarettes were being made in the bottom flat, the top flat—the building was just two stories at the time—was used for dancing. She said she had removed the picture from the Humphrey’s Hardware Store office to have it framed. She had intentions of returning it to hang it in the store.
Hibbin said her aunt worked in the building and later married R.G Humphrey. According to Hibbin, it was after the R.G Humphrey’s Gold and Diamond Company was destroyed by fire in 1962 that Humphrey moved to the building.
