By Fareeza Haniff
THE Guyana Fire Service came in for heavy criticism on Friday morning for failing to respond in a timely manner to a fire at Lot 102 Meten-Meer-Zorg, West Coast Demerara.At about 03:00hrs, fire destroyed a two-storey building that housed a Chinese restaurant in the lower flat. Residents believe that the property destroyed could have been saved had the Leonora Fire Station responded promptly to calls from members of that community. The fire station is located five minutes’ drive away from the scene of the fire.

A resident of the community drove to the fire station and alerted the firefighters on duty, but this apparently was not enough to get them to bolt to the scene, the Guyana Chronicle understands.

“Duh fire wheel coulda save duh place, but them come late and them come without water,” one resident told the Guyana Chronicle.

According to reports, a small fire began in the kitchen of the Glory Chinese Restaurant, forcing three female Chinese nationals to escape by jumping over the gate with a nine-month-old baby. After several loud explosions, the fire quickly spread throughout the building.
Residents assisted the occupants by breaking the gate and removing two vehicles and a motorcycle parked in the yard. The fire service arrived 35 minutes later, and was ill-equipped, as the fire tenders had no water.

The lack of water, coupled with the late arrival of firefighters, resulted in the fire quickly spreading to a neighbouring house. That house, however, was not severely damaged.

Owner of the property, Anette Dookie, is currently in the United States on vacation, but her eldest son, Robin, was asleep in the upper flat at the time of the blaze. He said he felt the heat on his body and quickly escaped. One of the occupants of the restaurant, Su, said she has no idea what could have triggered the fire, pointing out that they were all asleep at the time.

Residents were alerted about the fire by Su’s loud screams of “Help! Help! Fire! Fire!” The property continued to burn while the fire service was still trying to source water.

Only last month, it was another chaotic scene at Meten-Meer-Zorg when a two–storey house went up in flames, forcing families in nearby houses to flee for safety.
The occupants of that house: Mohammed Baseer, 76; his wife Bibi, 72; and their 14-year-old grandson, were in the lower flat of the building and managed to escape the blaze unhurt.