Millions of dollars were lost when a joinery at Tuschen Housing Scheme, East Bank Essequibo, went up in flames in the early hours of Friday morning.
The fire at Navin Arch Door & Home Furnishing Establishment occurred around 01:00 hrs.
Owner of the business, Navindra Persaud, 42, told Stabroek News that the fire spread quickly and all of his equipment and materials were destroyed.
He also lost four cupboards and 10 large L-shaped sofa sets. They were in the top flat of the two-storey building, which was stretched across two house lots.
It was only last year April that he completed the construction of the bigger building. He said it was “hard, real hard” when he watched helplessly as it was reduced to rubble. Twenty of his workers are now without jobs.
Persaud, who also operates a store, said the cupboards and sofa sets were supposed to be taken there today. He was not sure what to do next because the building was not insured.
He pointed out that he started small and was building “piece by piece and extending and it is not like we could go and get an insurance. We din fully complete the building. We just set it to a way to get to start working…”
He was planning to complete the building “to insurance standard and get it insured next year.”
He was fast asleep when received a call from his neighbour, Allan Greene, who operates an animal shelter directly behind the factory, alerting him that the building was on fire.
Persaud said he tried to get a bucket of water to douse the fire but it had already started to spread in the upper flat.
The fire tender was contacted and it arrived on the scene within 45 minutes. It was unable to extinguish the fire, which had already engulfed the building. However, the firefighters successfully prevented it from causing damage to nearby houses.
Lost kennel
A 20-ft kennel that Greene recently built was, however, destroyed. Luckily, he was able to save the 20 dogs that were in the kennel.
Greene and his wife, Winella, have 62 dogs in the shelter, including 10 pups as well as 32 cats, nine rabbits and a donkey.
Another kennel with 20 other dogs that was close to the fire scene was saved, but the couple’s water tank, which they used when the Guyana Water Inc. service is down, was destroyed.
They panicked and feared the worst because “the heat was too much.” They moved them to safety and before waking their three children and taking them out as well.
Greene recalled that he had just retired to bed before 1 am when heard the neighbour calling out to him about the fire.
He recalled that this time last year he smelt smoke coming from Persaud’s business place and had to call and inform him. Luckily, they were able to put the fire out just in time then.
