FIRE mysteriously broke out yesterday afternoon at DIDCO on Ramp Road, East Bank Demerara, destroying a $14M silent generator used to power the state-of-the art facility, and leaving the entire complex without electrical power for a prolonged period. Minutes after the fire started, DIDCO’s Managing Director Mr. Deo Singh, who spoke briefly with the media, said he was in his office located on the top floor, at the northern end of the building when, around 14:40 hrs, a security guard ran into the office and informed him that the building was on fire.
Singh said when he was told of the fire, his first reaction was, “Nah man, we can’t got fire here.” But he was persuaded by security guard to respond to the alert. Singh said when he realized that the man was really serious, he immediately called the Fire Department, but was surprised to learn from the department that they had seen the fire from their Water Street base and had already dispatched a unit to the scene.
Singh recalled racing over to the place where the generator was housed and saw that the generator compartment was well alight.  Together with his staff, they used all the fire extinguishers they could find on the premises and began attempting to extinguish the fire, but those were no match for the angry flames.  Within minutes, the fire tender was on the scene, he said, adding, “It was a big fire, raging high, high.”
He expressed gratitude that the fire tender and fire-fighters arrived on the scene very quickly and did a fantastic job of containing the fire to the one area and putting it out.
Commenting on the possible origin of the fire, the DIDCO Managing Director said he was advised that,  minutes before the incident, the company which is self-powered, had switched from one generator, over to another.  Soon after, the fire was spotted.  There was speculation that the generator might have sparked, leading to the fire. The generator, stored at ground level, was switched off and the other one mounted on an elevated floor outside of the building but on the same level with the offices, was turned on.
“The men were going up to check the generator which is the routine procedure, when they discovered that it was ablaze,” Singh recalled. He lamented that the entire complex was shut down, but was hopeful that they would have been able to get the other generator up and running, even though to some extent water may have affected equipment everywhere in that vicinity.
The DIDCO chief said the generator destroyed had been purchased overseas and had been in use at the facility for over one year.  He assured that the supply of poultry products would not be affected because the company has another generator.
Meanwhile, fire officials are continuing their investigations.