A fire of unknown origin on Saturday gutted sections of the multipurpose building housing the Guyana Police Force’s Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) at Police Headquarters, Eve Leary.
The fire started around 1.50 pm and a quick response by the Guyana Fire Service (GFS) prevented the blaze from spreading to the offices of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), situated in an adjoining building. No injuries were reported.
However, the force’s construction department and barracks that were also housed in the building were also destroyed.
The fire is suspected to have started in the barracks, which were situated in the western section of the building.
Fire Chief Kalamadeen Edoo told reporters that upon receiving the call, the GFS dispatched five fire tenders to the scene.
Upon arrival, he said, they found the entire building in flames. “…We were able to contain the fire from spreading to the eastern half of the other building,” Edoo said.
After about two hours, the fire was contained. By that time, all of the files, the majority of which are paper-based, were saved from both the OPR and DPP offices. As firefighters were battling to put out the blaze, police officers, including a number of senior ranks and staff members of OPR and DPP offices, rushed into the building to retrieve the files.
As the files were taken out, vehicles were arranged to have them packed and transported to a “secure” place. As the fire intensified, documents were even thrown out from the windows of the building and packed to be transported.
“As we speak the DPP office is adjoining….and efforts are being made to ensure that all is safe at the DPP office. As a matter of fact, we have already taken out all of the documents from the DPP office and the fire service is working strenuously to ensure that the fire doesn’t spread there,” Commissioner of Police (ag) Nigel Hoppie told reporters at the scene.
‘Trial by fire’
Just last month, a fire destroyed more than 80% of the Brickdam Police Station. A GFS investigation later confirmed that the fire was an act of arson and a suspect has since been charged.
During brief remarks, Prime Minister Mark Phillips, who was at the scene, told the media that an investigation has commenced to determine the cause of the fire.
“The investigation will help us to determine whether it’s coincidentally or whether there is some other motive behind this fire. So we need to allow the fire service and the police and the law enforcement agencies to do their work. The important thing right now is that we have the fire under control, it is not likely to spread beyond this point and the
investigation as to what maybe the cause of the fire has started,” Phillips said.
Meanwhile, Minister of Home Affairs Robeson Benn said that it appears as through the country is experiencing a “trial by fire”.
“I think I have said before it appears that we are experiencing a trial by fire again in Guyana,” he said.
However, Benn said that the Government will “stand firm” and be “much more vigilant”. “We will stand firm. We will make sure the work of our government and through that the development of our country proceeds. We have to be much more vigilant throughout all the services,” Benn told the media.
‘Disarray’
The Brickdam Police Station inferno also saw the destruction of a large number of court documents. This resulted in a backlog of cases waiting to be heard in the Magistrates’ Courts.
While Hoppie yesterday said that contingencies are in place to deal with the police files that might have been destroyed in the fire, Benn said without a doubt the fire will disrupt the operations of the DPP and OPR.
“Of course it puts their operations in disarray. Also the operations of the DPP’s chambers, also in disarray and some confusion,” Benn said.
Benn explained to reporters that the files and documents which were removed from the building would be sorted and placed at a place where they can be “assessed properly”.
This process, according to Benn, would take an estimated two to three weeks and would include setting up back the computer systems so that the digital files can also be accessed.
DPP Shalimar Ali-Hack said the fire has renewed her calls for a move away from a paper-based system. “It’s something I have been asking for, for years now—to digitize the system. So this shows wisdom in having a digitised system,” she said.
According to Ali-Hack, not only were files for ongoing court matters stored in the building but also those from matters that are completed.
“….We would have had depositions for completed matters and then you have appeal records too. So it’s a lot of records. It’s a paper based system so there is a lot of paper,” she said.
She added that among the files disorganized by the fire are those for cases which are currently before the Magistrates’ Courts.
A number of court cases, Ali-Hack said, would have to be rescheduled to facilitate the organisation of the respective files.
Apart from the files and documents, a number of other items, including computer systems, office equipment and mattresses were removed from the building and saved from being destroyed.
‘Not happy’
In the past few months, the GFS has faced criticisms over its response to a number of major fires, particularly the Brickdam Police Station blaze.
Its response to yesterday’s fire was also under scrutiny.
Edoo told reporters that firefighters responding to the fire experienced difficulty in sourcing water. “There were a few difficulties in terms of accessing water from the hydrant. The pressure was not to the full pressure that we needed but as time went by we made contact with GWI and they started to boost the pressure. We also had to get access from the open source of water,” he explained.
Despite this, Edoo applauded the firefighters for their response yesterday.
However, Benn told reporters he was not happy with the response. “I am not happy… I thought that we would have gotten better into action to save much more of the building so it is unfortunate that we have lost practically half of the building or more than half of the building,” he said.
Benn added that a review will be conducted on the response to determine if there are “any lessons to be learnt”.
As the news of the fire spread, a number of officials, including government ministers, arrived at the scene.
Among those present were Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs Anil Nandlall, Minister of Education Priya Manickchand, Minister of Public Service Sonia Parag, and Minister of Parliamentary Affairs and Governance Gail Teixeira.
