Arson not ruled out in Main Street fire
– According to Fire Chief Marlon Gentle
CHIEF Fire Officer Marlon Gentle said, after the early morning blaze yesterday, which severely damaged the building housing several businesses at Lot 29 Main and Holmes Streets, Georgetown, that arson has not been ruled out in the continuing investigation. He said, from eyewitness reports, two explosions were heard prior to the conflagration and it is believed that one object was hurled into the uppermost, unoccupied storey of the edifice, causing a puff of smoke, followed by a flash over and then a ball of fire was observed.
Gentle said a second missile was thrown into the middle flat and that quickly engulfed the entire structure.
He said the Guyana Fire Service (GFS) is working with Mekdeci Mining Company (MMC) Security, which provides electronic surveillance of the location and has several eyewitness accounts about the first such major disaster for this year.
The affected businesses are Archie Humphrey Machinery (Hardware), Dagron Tours International, which offers local touring and holiday packages to South America and the Caribbean, Frandec Travel Service and LIAT airline.
Director of Humphrey and Frandec (H&F) Inc., Mr. Peter Fraser told the Guyana Chronicle, at the scene where he held a picture of the original building, that he was at home when he received a telephone call from his son, who had been informed by the lone security guard on duty.
It was about 01:50 hrs and, by the time he rushed to the place, it had been engulfed.
Fraser said a total of about 30 persons were employed in the building, some of whom turned up for work and were shocked as they gazed at the destruction, while police and firefighters worked in the cordoned area.
A team from Guyana Power & Light (GPL) went there around 09:30 hrs and disconnected the electrical wires from the premises.
Meanwhile, Chief Executive Officer of Frandec Travel Service, Mrs. Kathryn Eytle-McLean told reporters she estimated their loss in millions of dollars.

DISPUTED OWNERSHIP
She also informed that the company has an ongoing Court case over the disputed ownership of the building but did not speculate about any connection to the occurrence.
Eytle-McLean said, about 01:45 hrs, she was alerted, by telephone, that the 50-year-old business place was ablaze and she arrived to see it almost completely destroyed.
She said the enterprise started in 1960, at an office in America Street, another part of the city, but moved to Main and Holmes Streets.
Eytle-McLean said her mother, Ms. Gem Eytle is the backbone of the business but is on a cruise that would end in Australia and has not been told of the destruction yet.
She and the employees will decide how to inform her mother after a planned meeting.

Eytle-Mclean said the security guard on duty at the time related that he heard a loud sound, then saw smoke and, within a few minutes, the place was on fire. He remembered seeing many motor cars parked in Main Street but none circling the building before the flames became evident.
Eytle-McLean praised the GFS for its efforts in containing the blaze only to the Frandec building.
LIAT Sales and Facilitation Manager, Mr. Stephen Michael, stood in front of the destroyed building in which they started operations in June 2005. He said they had four employees at that location but have another office at Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA) and have since put systems in place for ticketing to be done there, where all their data is electronically stored.
He, too, had been told the bad news by telephone and got to the scene when the fire was raging.