A Guyana Fire Service (GFS) investigation has concluded that the blaze which destroyed more than 80 percent of the Brickdam Police Station on Saturday was an act of arson.
Acting Fire Chief, Gregory Wickham and Fire Prevention Officer, Sheldon Sauns disclosed the findings of the investigation during a press conference yesterday afternoon.
Sauns explained that a GFS investigation commenced on Saturday – shortly after the fire and the cause was determined the following day.
During the investigation, Sauns said several procedures were undertaken in an effort to ascertain the cause of the fire.
“Such procedures would have included interviews, the layout of the fire scene and also the collection of debris. At this point, it is concluded that the supposed cause for the Brickdam Police Station fire was suspected arson,” Sauns disclosed.
According to Sauns, samples were collected from the scene for testing at the Guyana Forensic Laboratory. “That part of it is somewhat completed but the part which was completed would have given us enough support to determine the cause of the fire,” Sauns said.
Among the samples that were collected from the scene were paper, wood left from the burnt building, part of a cigarette lighter and pieces of cloth. No wire was found by the GFS, Sauns said.
“Persons were interviewed and coming out of those interviews, feasible information was gathered, coupled with the samples collected which would have led us to our conclusion,” Sauns noted.
The Police have stated that a prisoner, Clarence Greene who was in the lock-ups at the time of the fire has confessed to starting the fire out of frustration.
During a video interview, which was shown to the media, Greene told investigators that one of the prisoners provided him with the piece of wire. He said he tore off a piece of sponge from a mattress in the cell he was in, hooked it on the wire and lit same with a lighter.
Greene then allegedly pushed the sponge on the wire through a ventilation hole to a section of the station which contained some documents. The sponge came into contact with the documents causing the fire.
Greene was charged yesterday with arson.
The fire started in a section of the police station which housed the fraud department. This building was an old wooden structure which was located close to the lock-ups area.
Greene was on the second floor of the building where the lock-ups are housed.
Greene was arrested on Saturday morning in relation to an armed robbery. He was also charged for this yesterday.
The GFS said that they interviewed Greene and other prisoners who were in the lock-ups and police officers who were on duty at the time. They also spoke to residents who live close by.
Both Sauns and Wickham were tightlipped about details provided during the statements but noted that at no point did Greene confess to the GFS that he started the fire.
“I also had an interview with the prisoner (Greene)…I can’t say if he was interviewed by the police before me but I know the following day (Sunday) I had an interview with him,” Sauns said.
Asked about details of the statement, Wickham said “there are certain confidentiality of persons giving statement that we are not authorized to give to members of the public. But a statement was collected from him (Greene) and we rely on the statement,” Wickham noted.
During a press conference on Saturday, Com-missioner of Police (ag) Nigel Hoppie said that the fire started around 11.06am in the upper flat of an eastern building in the compound.
“Highs and lows”
The GFS has faced intense scrutiny over its performance during the fire.
During a visit to the scene on Sunday, President Irfaan Ali blasted firefighters and warned that their lax approach will not be tolerated.
“The response of the fire service was poor, at its best, yesterday, and as President, I hope that the fire service can acknowledge this because if you can’t acknowledge the problem, you can’t deal with it,” Ali said.
“This is less than three minutes’ walk to a main fire station. We cannot continue as a country and as a people to not address these issues. We can’t continue to make investments and not have the return on the investments. Whether it is in the public service, in the hospitals, the inefficiency has to be weeded out. If you don’t want to perform public service then do the honourable thing, don’t take a job in the fire department and believe it is a part time job,” Ali emphasized.
Days after, Fire Chief Kalamadeen Edoo was sent on leave.
Edoo’s leadership of the Fire Service has faced severe criticism from members of the public.
Wickham yesterday told reporters that he was on vacation at the time of the Brickdam fire and was called out to “lend support.” He said he was not informed how long he will have to operate in the capacity of acting fire chief.
Questioned about the GFS response to the Brickdam Police Station fire, Wickham said there were “highs and lows” and there is always room for improvements.
“……Yes the fire service realized that at that fire specially that there were highs and low points that we need to improve on and so we would have taken the necessary steps to ensure that we improve our performance because we are confident. we know that we have the support when it comes to the equipment and the tools for us to provide,” he explained.
“…And so whatever would have caused the low points at that fire we would have looked at it, we would have had discussions and we would have put plans in place, action plans to prevent such recurrence,” Wickham added.
Meanwhile, Sauns noted that inspections are currently ongoing at various buildings across the country.
He particularly pointed out that inspections are being done at the various police stations to ensure that they are “fitted” with the requisite equipment to combat fires.
