A FIRE which started at approximately 02.30hrs yesterday morning completely destroyed the Golden City Hardware building on Camp and Robb Streets, formerly the Kissoon Furniture Building.
The fire also gutted an adjacent building that was converted to a storage bond for the hardware store and a few small businesses nearby.When the Guyana Chronicle arrived at the scene, the fire was still raging and threatening all buildings on that corner, including the Republic Bank.

The City Mall was also at one point under threat, but firemen managed to contain the fire to just two structures, while several others suffered extensive water damage.
‘A’ Division Commander Clifton Hicken, along with senior police ranks from the division, were at the scene, as well as Fire Chief Marlon Gentle and other senior Guyana Fire Service officers.
Speaking with the media yesterday morning, as his property was going up in flames, businessman Rizwan Nayeem Khan, who is also the owner of the Discount Store at Regent and Wellington Streets, explained that he was at home when he received a call that his building was on fire.
The man stated that he was informed that the fire started in the front building, which stands at Camp and Robb Streets, before spreading to the storage bond located at the back of that building which was recently converted into one.
The businessman further explained that when he arrived on the scene, the entire primary building was already engulfed.

Yesterday morning, firemen were forced to turn their hose to nearby buildings, including the Republic Bank, located just across the street, as the wind sent the flames in that

direction.
The pressure of the water caused the glass to the façade of the Bank to be shattered. However, within hours, construction workers were on the scene and it was observed that they were laying plyboard in the space where the glass was shattered.
The police were out in their numbers, and several streets around the block of the fire were closed off.
Fire Chief Gentle, in an interview early yesterday morning at the scene, explained that the firefighters did their best to contain the fire to the two buildings but he noted the challenges that the men faced in battling the blaze.
He spoke of heavy winds which fuelled the fire and pushed it in several directions; combustible items within the storage bond; and the other parts of the store that had some amount of restaurant activities and a damaged water pump which was pulling water from the nearby North Road canal but was affected by the intake of silt.
Gentle said that the call about the fire came to the central fire station at approximately 02.35 hrs by a man who said that he heard a loud explosion inside the store and was seeing what appeared to be a ball of fire. He added that when the fire tenders arrived at the scene after being mobilized from Alberttown and the Central Fire Station, the entire building was already engulfed.

The Chief Fire Officer stated that there were eleven tenders which responded to the scene and represented all fire stations within Georgetown.
The closeness of the buildings did not make the work of the firefighters easy as that caused the fire to rip through the block.
On the issue of the fire hydrants, the Chief Fire Officer showed the media the fire hydrants which are in the area but are of no use to the fire service.
The fire has left millions in damage and several persons jobless even as investigators try to get to the bottom of the catastrophe.

By Leroy Smith