Fire Chief Kalamadeen Edoo yesterday told Stabroek News that investigators are still to determine the cause of the blaze which ravaged a section of the Police Headquarters Complex at Eve Leary on Saturday afternoon.
The police Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) was destroyed in the fire and the Chambers of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) had to be emptied of its files and other items.
Communications Officer Liz Rahaman yesterday told Stabroek News that the DPP’s Chambers will remain closed indefinitely but this will not hinder the work of state prosecutors in the criminal assizes.
She told this newspaper that during the course of this week staff will be going through the documents saved from Saturday’s fire to assess what losses they would have incurred. The saved files are being housed in a secure location provided by the Guyana Police Force.
The fire started around 1.50 pm and a quick response by the Guyana Fire Service (GFS) prevented the blaze from spreading to the Chambers of the DPP, situated in an adjoining building.
Saturday’s inferno saw the destruction of the force’s construction department and barracks that were also housed in the building. The fire is suspected to have started in the barracks, which were situated in the western section of the building.
On Saturday, the Fire Chief explained that 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. He noted that they are working along with the police in their investigation.
The fire was brought under control about two hours later. 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 the OPR and DPP’s Chambers, rushed into the building to retrieve the files.
While the DPP’s office was not affected by the blaze, it suffered from water damage during the firefighting efforts.
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 digitise 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 disorganised 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.
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.
