More than five months after a massive fire destroyed the historic Humphrey building on Main Street, the Guyana Fire Service has completed its investigation and concluded that the fire was the result of an act of arson.
“We have completed that investigation and have concluded that the fire was a result of arson… something was thrown into the building,” Chief Fire Officer Marlon Gentle told Stabroek News when contacted on the investigation into the January fire.
It therefore means that the investigation will now have to be taken over by the Guyana Police Force as the fire was as a result of a criminal act.
Contacted yesterday Peter Fraser, one of the directors of H&F Inc, the company that owned the building, said they had not received any such feedback from the Guyana Fire Service and even though they have been trying to seek information none has been forthcoming.
“They are supposed to give us a statement and we have not received that as yet and the insurance company is also waiting on the statement…” Fraser told Stabroek News.
He said while unofficially they had concluded that the fire was an act of arson they have received no official information from the fire service.
Residents had told Stabroek News that they had heard two thunderous explosions before the fire and when they rushed out they saw a car departing the scene. Flames, they had said, quickly engulfed the old wooden building. The fire service responded quickly but could not do much as the fire had already spread.
The three-storey building was owned by HG Humphrey and Frandec Travel Services under the company name H&F Inc and it housed four businesses—Frandec Travel Services, the LIAT office, Dagron’s Travel Service and Humphrey’s Hardware Store.
On the morning of the fire Kathryn Eytle-McLean, Chief Executive Officer of Frandec and a director on the board of H&F Inc, had related that persons in the neighbourhood told her about a car circling just before the fire started. She said the guard on duty had 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 had 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 had added.
