An early morning fire gutted a two-storey building at the corner of Regent and King streets yesterday, leaving millions in losses in its wake.
Up to press time last night, the origin of the fire had still not been determined and Fire Chief Marlon Gentle said investigations were still ongoing.
The fire, which reportedly started after midnight on Thursday, destroyed three businesses— Ashok’s Dry Goods Store, Sabrina’s Fashion and Guyana Real Estate and Insurance Agency (G.R.E.I.A). However, the quick action of the Guyana Fire Service prevented the fire from spreading to neighbouring businesses.
Hemant Keswani, owner of Ashok’s, which was located at the bottom flat of the building, received a call around 1 am yesterday alerting him to the fire.
Keswani explained that by the time he arrived at the scene, firefighters had already managed to contain the blaze, while other fire officials had set up a barricade around the building.
Caretaker of the building and owner of G.R.E.I.A Hanuman Ganpat related that he was not notified of what had transpired until long after the fire was contained.
Ganpat explained that he looked after the building for his cousin, Naipaul Rahman, who resides outside of Guyana.
The top floor of the building, where Ganpat ran his real estate and insurance company, was destroyed and losses were estimated at over $8 million. “The most important thing lost in the fire for me were my files, tons and tons of files… transports and personal documents of clients,” he explained.
“I had a big library upstairs with encyclopedias and other books that were passed on to me by senior counsel, all very valuable as well as cash and other articles,” Ganpat added.
The owners of Sabrina’s Fashion left the scene a short while after she showed up, Ganpat related. He explained that the woman became overwhelmed at the damage to her store and subsequently broke down.
“Sabrina lost over $40 million in the fire since all the articles in the store have been destroyed,” the man noted.
When Stabroek News visited the site yesterday morning, a crowd of curious onlookers had gathered on the road looking on as fire officials carried out an inspection of the badly burnt building. A storeowner as well as the caretaker of the building were also being questioned by the officials.
The occupants of the building were reportedly questioned on the use of religious altars in the building, where incense is burned. However, Ganpat noted that the occupants would only do so in the morning, when they offer prayers at the altar and they would ensure that all sources of fire were extinguished before leaving the building in the afternoons.
Additionally, the main circuit that supplies electricity to the building is always turned off by Ganpat every afternoon, thus the building is left without electricity during the night.
The building was reportedly bought in the 1980s by Rahman. Ashok’s has been occupying the building for over 25 years.
