– Fire Chief
MAGISTRATE’S court sessions in Linden are now being held at Christianburg Community Centre, following the fire destruction of the designated building, also in Christianburg, early Tuesday morning. Fire Chief Marlon Gentle told the Guyana Chronicle, yesterday, that Guyana Fire Service (GFS) investigators are treating the blaze as suspicious in the ongoing probe.

He said, at the time of the conflagration, the place was unprotected as the watchman had abandoned his post at 20:00h on Monday night.

Gentle said the GFS received the first call at about 05:53h on Tuesday and two tenders responded to fight the flames, which had already consumed the two-storey wooden edifice.

The Chief Fire Officer pointed out that, given the age of the structure, there was little resistance to the blaze which was fanned by the riverside breeze and, within minutes, the entire building was completely burnt.

Gentle noted that the caretaker’s house in the same compound was saved from the fire which, reportedly, started in the kitchen area of the destroyed building.

Christianburg Magistrate’s Court, where sittings were held on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, was built in 1803 by Scottish engineer, Mr. John Patterson and it also housed offices of the Regional Probation Department and the Linden Legal Aid Centre.

Nothing of value was retrieved after the Tuesday inferno.