A fire which erupted around 10 pm on Saturday gutted a Chinese-operated clothing store along Regent Street and a woman had to be dramatically rescued by firemen from a neighbouring building.
The name of the store is unknown but the building in which it was housed, which sits on the northern side of Regent Street three lots off Oronoque Street, is owned by the proprietors of Full Works Motor Spares and Auto Sales.
Reports say that the building was rented to the Chinese about two months ago. Neither the Chinese tenants nor the firefighters
were able to say what caused the fire and calls to the owners of the building were futile
The sides of the buildings which sit on either side of the burnt structure were scorched, although the damage was relatively minimal. Golyn and Sons Home Sense, located west of the fire- ravaged building had multiple PVC drainage pipes and ceiling fixtures melted loose.
Residents of the areas said that members of the Guyana Fire Service were tardy in their response to the blaze but that once they arrived they were able to stop it from spreading to neighbouring buildings. By the time the flames were extinguished only the concrete walls were left standing
When Stabroek News re-visited the scene around 10:45 yesterday morning, smoke was still rising from the ashes of the buildings, as firefighters continued to douse remaining embers.
Rusdale Farley, who is the caretaker of the house situated behind the burnt building, got the shock of her life when she went to her front door to find ferocious flames inching closer. The woman said she was completely unaware of the fire until she heard someone breaking her glass doors and yelling to her. Stabroek News learned that when the firefighters turned up and began to battle the blaze they were informed by residents of the area that Farley might be in the building
Farley said that when she got up to see who was breaking the glass she saw a man yelling to her, and she noticed huge flames leaping from the building behind him. Because the flames were so intense, firefighters accessed the building from the yard to the east of the property.
Once outside of the building, she explained, several firefighters made themselves into a human ladder and allowed her to climb up their backs, while another human ladder on the other side, also firefighters, lifted her over the four-foot barb-wired wall which separates the two yards.
Persons were seen loitering around the burnt building yesterday as firefighters continued to douse the smoking remains.
Stabroek News learned that some of them were looking to see what shoes and other articles of clothing they could salvage. One man was even seen asking a police officer who was called to the scene if he could go inside the building for just a few seconds to see what he could get. The policeman refused, however a few minutes later the man was seen riding from the scene with two new, soaked, pairs of shoes.
