Swift firefighting efforts, bolstered by three adequately prepared fire tenders, yesterday averted a major conflagration in a business hub of Barrack Street, Kingston, Georgetown.
Now homeless is Frank Singh, Tour Operator of Guyana Rainforest Tours, in whose home the fire, suspected to be of electrical origin, started around16:00 hrs. The building was gutted within half an hour, but except for the scorching of the back wall of a two storeyed residential building in front of Singh’s, the firefighters did a remarkable job of containing the fire. The slightly damaged two storeyed building is the home of Mrs. Iris Ally and family.
Offices located just two buildings away on either side of the building and spared being caught up in the blaze are the Headquarters of the United States Peace Corps in Guyana and Black and Decker, to the north, and the Inter American Development Bank to the south. A few yards behind stands the five storeyed headquarters of Demerara Distillers Ltd (DDL), overlooking the Kingston neighbourhood.
At the time that the fire started, no one was at home, for there was a black out in the neighbourhood, and Singh, an ardent football enthusiast, had gone to Ogle to watch the World Cup Games being played in South Africa. His son Shazaam was also on the East Coast of Demerara, and his wife Sabita and their daughter Stephanie, who were holidaying here, had  earlier in the day flown out of the country.
Neighbour Iris Ally, who was the first to spot the fire, recalled that after a day of power outage, the Guyana Power and Light restored power around 15:30 hrs.  She said that around 16:00 hrs she heard crackling sounds like the breaking of bottles, and the sounds persisted and seemed to be getting louder.  Curious, she ran to the back and looked out the window, only to realize that it was Singh’s house on fire. The woman raised an alarm and quickly notified the Fire Department and telephoned Singh and his son, informing them of the disaster.  The firefighting team was highly commended for their efficient work, particularly since the walkway to the building which stands at the back of the yard is very narrow and the houses are in close proximity to each other.
In a brief comment, Station Officer Compton Sparman said that his department received the call around 16:05 hrs and immediately dispatched three units – two from the Stabroek headquarters and another from Alberttown.  He said when they arrived on the scene the cottage was well alight.
He said, they are yet to determine the cause of the fire which left two persons homeless and all their possessions on the premises destroyed.