Grove fire destroys Chinese restaurant, four other buildings
-causes traffic jam on East Bank corridor
A MID-AFTERNOON fire, said to be the biggest ever experienced in the history of the East Bank Demerara, broke out yesterday at the Chinese Dragon Restaurant on the Grove Public Road, ravaging five buildings, leaving hundreds of millions of dollars in losses, and more than 20 persons homeless. And thanks to the expert firefighting skills displayed by the firemen, the blaze did not reach a nearby DOCOL Light Petroleum (LPG) or cooking gas outlet, a situation most feared by villagers as the conflagration intensified.
Three of the buildings destroyed were commercial entities, namely, the Chinese restaurant at reference; a wholesale/retail beverage depot; and bottom-house furniture mart. 
The fire reportedly started shortly before 14:00hrs while most of the affected residents were taking their mid-afternoon nap. At least one person –an octogenarian named Cecil Puran but also called ‘Joshi’ who owned the building which housed the Chinese restaurant — suffered minor burns to his head, back and right hand as he attempted to help fight the fire.
The restaurant was operated by a Chinese national who gave his name as Leo. He lived on the premises with his wife, Lyn, and their infant son.
Others affected and left homeless are: Yvonne Ram and her two daughters;  Hafeez and Sarbo Ali and their three children; and 56-year-old Chunilall Ganesh, his wife Anjou, their daughter, Savitree and a tenant, who, even after the fire had been put out, had not returned home and so was still not aware that she was homeless.
The injured ‘Joshi’, who lived above the Chinese restaurant with his wife and eleven children and grandchildren, recalled he was awakened by shouts of “Fire! Fire!”
He said that on realizing that the fire was taking place in the restaurant, he hurried downstairs in an effort to render help, but soon realized that it had already spread to the top flat in which he was living.
Meanwhile, residents quickly summoned the Fire Department in Georgetown, but because of the distance, the building was well alight when the unit eventually arrived on the scene.
Fire fighting efforts were further impeded, they said, since the tender had no water when it arrived, and the firemen had to source water from within the community before beginning to fight the fire.  In addition, the flames, fanned by the mid-afternoon breeze, licked away furiously at the buildings. 

Once started, however, the firemen worked gallantly and selflessly, amidst billowing flames, exploding devices and fiery-hot cascading rubble. 
It was at this point that residents took compassion and empathized with the ranks who wore no helmets, but were exposed and made vulnerable working in a very dangerous environment.
As the fire raged, quickly spreading from building to building, there was heightened fear that it could spread to as far as a nearby DOCOL cooking gas outlet to the west of the blaze.  However, the firemen tactfully doused the old and unoccupied wooden buildings in the east and the west, even as they concentrated their efforts on dousing the residential and commercial buildings.
Residents also expressed outrage over the fact that large quantities of cooking gas in huge cylinders were stored on the premises. They told of having reported this hazardous practice to DOCOL on several occasions, but no positive action was ever taken.
The owner of one business concern in the neighbourhood recalled that earlier in the day, before the start of the fire, the proprietor of the restaurant approached them to borrow a crescent to tighten something.

Cried openly
As the fires raged, female occupants of the affected households cried openly. Anjou Ganesh said she was in the city, where she had gone to purchase a textbook her grand-daughter needed for school. 
Imtiaz Puran, presumably ‘Joshi’s son, badly shaken and close to tears, said he too was in the city when he received the tragic news.  “I was playing cricket, and hurried home right away, but had to contend with this huge buildup of traffic.”  
The traffic jam at reference extended from in the vicinity of DDL’s Distillery to way past the mechanic shop to the northeast of the burning area.
Anjou tearfully lamented that all her assets and life’s savings had gone up in flames, and now she has nowhere to go.
‘Joshi’ said his house was one of the oldest buildings now standing in Grove.  “This house was built more than 78 years ago, and retains the architecture. It is 70 feet long upstairs and 60 feet downstairs.” 
He recalled that at one time, he showed movies in the bottom flat to entertain the people of Grove. But now all that is history, he said.
Sarbo and Hafeez Ali owned the wholesale/retail beverage depot and poultry retail business referred to earlier; Kamla and her husband operated a furniture mart on the bottom flat of their building and Chinese national – Leo operated a Chinese restaurant.
Representatives of the National Relief Council (NRC), on receiving the news of the devastation, hurried down to the scene and offered their sympathy, then commenced holding discussions with the victims of the disaster.