THE storage bond of a business couple was totally destroyed by fire yesterday morning just as the family was getting ready to go to the market.

One woman who lived next door told the Guyana Chronicle that she saw thick smoke emanating from the building next door to her and within seconds she saw her neighbour running and shouting in the street for fire, but no one seemed interested.
According to a neighbour, who gave her name as Judy, the fire service responded promptly but there was a challenge. The fire tenders did not have adequate water and as such the living quarters of the couple began to blaze so the firemen had to split themselves between saving a building from a fiery destruction and containing the fire to the one which already was damaged beyond repair.
The fire started at approximately 07.05 hrs at lot 34 J Duncan Street Campbellville just five minutes after a family member reported to his mother the smell of smoke. The bond is owned by the G Bacchus Enterprise and according to its proprietress Indira Rahamatt the fire might have been the work of arsonists.
Ms. Rahamatt told the media that after her sons complained of smelling something burning as if it were rubber, she sent one of them upstairs in their living quarters to check, while the older son was ordered to open the other building which is used as the storage bond.
She said that upon opening the double-flat building which houses the bond the woman said that her son alerted her that there was smoke coming from the upper flat of the building. The fire service was summoned while the relatives formed a bucket brigade which was rendered useless.
The businesswoman told the media that she could not answer the questions about the insurance of the building or items within the damaged building, nor could she say what the estimated costs of the damaged building and items within would be.
Ms. Rahamatt explained that immediately after it was confirmed that there was a fire that could get out of control, everyone exited to the adjacent building to the burning one which the family used as their living quarters. She said that 10 persons live in the house and all were accounted for.
She said the family has been living and operating the business at its present location for the past 16 years after they had moved in 1997.
According to her this is not the first time that the family business has been struck by fire, pointing to a fire which destroyed parts of its Hadfield Street business premises, the MFK building in 2012.
In addition, there was another fire, this time at a building just across the road from where the fire struck yesterday morning. According to the woman that fire was allegedly set and they were able to put it out and never raised an alarm about it. She said that she believes that the business is being targeted and she as well as the rest of her family are fully aware of who is behind the attacks.
The visibly shaken woman said that she believes the man who is behind the three fires which hit their business places is another businessman.
Asked the reason for her conclusion, the woman said that when they purchased the building on Hadfield Street from  the businessman he attempted to give them a “raw deal” by refusing to hand over the transport.
She recalled that there were times when the man called her at home and threatened to “blaze me down with fire”.  She said that the last “blaze me down with fire” threat was made a mere nine hours before the fire was discovered on Sunday. She said that the man called her on Saturday night just after 22.00hrs.
Asked why the matter was not reported to the police on Saturday night, the frustrated woman said that they have made several reports to the police station and assured that the police were even given a recording of the threats as they were being made during the routine calls by the man she suspects to be responsible for the fire to her storage bond.
Meanwhile, yesterday there were four fire tenders which responded to the fire as firefighters were seen struggling to contain the blaze but were eventually able to do so after one and a half hours.
However as they fought the blaze on Duncan Street, persons who lived behind the burning building began removing items from their homes and taking children far away from the fire location; the entire area was covered by a thick sheet of smoke for several minutes.
In their effort to fight the blaze firemen also mounted themselves on nearby roofs of residents’ homes. So severe was the fire that the concrete walls of the burning building caved in.
In an effort to ensure law and order the police were out in their numbers and got control of the crowd after an almost 45-minute delay which saw persons almost in the gap of the burning building. Also present yesterday morning at the scene of the fire, were Fire Chief Marlon Gentle and Assistant Commissioner, Operations and Law Enforcement, George Vyphius.