FIRE Chief Marlon Gentle disclosed yesterday that the Guyana Fire Service (GFS) responded to a call from Demerara Distillers Limited (DDL), at Diamond, East Bank Demerara and averted a major disaster there on Tuesday. He said a gas extractor flared up about mid-morning, but the resulting blaze was contained and the GFS is awaiting a report from the Trinidadian company that installed the mechanism to determine the cause of the blaze.
Meanwhile, Gentle told the Guyana Chronicle that the blaze in Owen Street, Kitty, Georgetown, which displaced a man early Saturday morning, seems to be electrical in origin.
The Fire Chief said inspectors are still at the scene assessing the cause of the flames which partially destroyed a two-flat wooden house at Lot 17 Owen Street.
The occupant, a 22-year-old man, Steve (only name given) was rushed to the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPH) suffering burns about the hands and back, but he is reported to be recuperating.
He was asleep but, about midnight, neighbours were awakened by shouts for help  and saw thick smoke billowing from the house where the man  lived alone.
The burnt man was the victim of a robbery at his home last week and it is quite unfortunate that all his worldly possessions were consumed by the flames.
The GFS was able to douse the flames and prevent them from spreading to nearby buildings in Owen Street.
Superstitious people in the street believe the burnt house is haunted, as about seven persons who once resided there all died under questionable circumstances.