A building on Waterloo Street, which housed a mechanic shop, went up in flames during the wee hours of yesterday morning leaving millions in damage.
The building next door, owned by Dr Ghansham Singh and which also houses his surgery, was also partially burnt to the right side by the fire, which is suspected to have been lit by an arsonist.
Tajimul Drapaul aka ‘Capy’, who operated a mechanic shop at the front of the building and used the
lower front half of the building to store vehicle spare parts and tools, said he was at his Lot 98 South Turkeyen, East Coast Demerara, home when he received a phone call from his son-in-law, around 5 am, informing him that the building was on fire.
He added that he rushed down to Georgetown and arrived around 6 am to find the building already burnt to the ground.
Drapaul said he felt the building was set on fire by someone, but he had no idea who the culprit might be. His assumption stemmed from the fact that the building was set on fire a week ago. He said that last Saturday around 8 am, he arrived at work only to be informed moments later by his employee that the back of the building was on fire.
“When me guh, the fire been start fuh spread but me ain’t see anybody around,” Drapaul said.
He said he and his employee managed to put out the fire using buckets of water. Drapaul further stated that he and his neighbours called the fire service but no one came.
After putting out the blaze, Drapaul said, he proceeded to make a report to the Brickdam Police Station, but no
officers came to further investigate the matter. He added that he chose not to follow the matter up, since everything seemed to be fine subsequently.
Drapaul further stated that about a year ago, a family of 13 had occupied the upper flat of the building which contained two bedrooms, and the back half of the lower flat. He added that the owner of the building, Terry Babb, of Chateau Margot, East Coast Demerara, wanted full possession of the building, and was forced to pay the stubborn occupants $800,000 to leave the premises and they subsequently left.
He further stated that he has owned the mechanic shop at the same location for a period of ten years. The father of three estimated his losses to be approximately $600,000, while he pointed out that a vehicle parked in front of the building, which he was scheduled to look after was also badly scorched by the fire.
Babb said he had no knowledge of origin of the fire and further stated that he would seldom visit the premises. However, he estimated his losses to be in the millions.
Dr Singh said he received a phone call around 4.30 am informing him of the fire. He added that when he arrived at the scene, the side of his building was on fire and also fire was present in the ceiling. The entire right side of his building was burnt.
The building which housed the mechanic shop was a long-standing fire hazard, Singh said. He added that he had just recently (about three months ago) renovated his building. He estimated his loss and damage to be in excess of $5 million.
Meanwhile, Joyce Macintosh, who lives two doors away, said she was up at around 3 am reading her bible and cooking, when she started to smell smoke.
“I sit down in my chair and the place been smelling smoky, Suh I thinking ‘is wha dis?’ suh I went and open me door and the whole place outside been smoky, thick, thick smoke,” Macintosh said. She said that she proceeded to raise an alarm.
Residents wondered what could have caused the fire. They said that the building had no electricity and no one occupied it.
They added that by the time they ventured outside to witness the fire, the building was already completely engulfed in flames. They also reiterated that fire threatened the building last week Saturday.
