Fire destroyed the King Solomon building at Main Street early yesterday morning and has temporarily halted operations at Travel Span airline services.
The origin of the blaze is unknown, but flames were spotted in the eastern section of the building’s upper flat around 3 am. It was reported that the electrical power had been turned off from the building prior to the blaze.
The fire service responded promptly and managed to bring the fire under control some time after, but was forced to return on three separate occasions after embers reignited. Fire was still visible in the upper flat of the gutted building after 8 am yesterday.
Travel Span airline is now operating as a travel agency and was housed in the bottom half of the building for several years; the blaze yesterday resulted in severe losses to the business. Travel consultant Priya Lall told Stabroek News that items were looted from the business by the time they arrived on the scene some time after 3 am. She said phones and lap top computers are among the items missing.
The fire wrecked a considerable amount of items at the travel agency, Lall said, adding they also suffered water damage. However, she was optimistic that the agency would be operational in another few days servicing customers.
Lall said no information was forthcoming as to how the fire started, but she stressed that the power to the building was turned off.
“We always turn off the power when we leave and it was off,” she told this newspaper yesterday. She also questioned what happened with the stolen items saying that they seemed to have vanished around the same time the fire started.
Lall said Travel Span was the only active business operating from the building at the time of the fire. She said that the businesses operated by Solomon Enterprises had relocated a short while ago. The building also housed Exec Jet Club and Limousine Services.
King Solomon business operations included a money transfer service and an auto business. Stanford Solomon owned the property but is currently out of the country. A relative told this newspaper that Solomon had purchased the property some ten years ago. Prior to this, Joe Chin’s Travel Agency was operating out of the building which has been a fixture on Main Street for decades.
The relative said information reached them some time after 3 am that the building was on fire, but when they arrived on the scene the damage had already been done. She was not inclined to answer questions, but pointed out that Solomon Enterprises was still operating a business from the building.
The fire is the second on Main Street within three months and follows the blaze which levelled the Humphrey building back in February. In the wake of that fire, operations at Frandec Travel Service were affected and LIAT’s office in the city was destroyed.
The Humphrey three-storey building was said to have be around a hundred years old and to date, the origin of that blaze remains unknown.
