An early morning fire severely damaged the Family Planning Associa-tion (FPA) building on Croal Street yesterday and Fire Chief Marlon Gentle said it was deliberately set.
Investigations have revealed that fires were started at multiple points in the building, Gentle told Stabroek News. He said that the matter has now become a criminal investigation and declined to provide further details.
President of the FPA Jason Shepherd told Stabroek News that if the fire was caused by arson,
he hopes the investigators are able to get the culprit. He said that he has no idea as to who would want to burn the FPA building. The organization operated a sexual and reproductive health clinic there.
Shepherd said that the building is owned by the organization but acknowledged that questions have been raised regarding ownership of it. He said that employees were robbed before and the building broken into. The man recalled that towards the end of February, FPA workers and clients were robbed of cash and jewellery during a daylight robbery. Two days later, there was an attempt to break into the building.
Shepherd said that he does not know if the robbery and the attempted break-in were connected or if those incidents are connected to the fire. Both the robbery and attempted break-in were reported to the police who subsequently came and investigated, he said.
Shepherd was unable to give a full estimate of the losses to the organization but said that beds and equipment located in the upper flat of the building were completely destroy-ed. He further stated that the bulk of the damage by fire was seen in the upper flat of the building while damage in the lower flat was mainly due to water. “Just a few pieces of furniture that we saw appears to be in a reusable condition,” Shepherd said.
It would take millions of dollars to get the clinic up and running again, he said. Persons living close to the building were unable to comment on the fire.
