— after vagrant tosses cigarette butt in garbage on ground floor
A MAJOR disaster was averted on Monday afternoon when the Guyana Fire Service (GFS) responded promptly to a fire call at the ground floor of the Guyana Post Office Corporation (GPO) building and successfully contained the flames.The section where the fire ignited is unoccupied and the area was supposed to be the storage room for water tanks for the Bakewell Food Court, which is expected to be opened soon.
The ground floor of that section of the building is being rented by Bakewell and had a pile of garbage stacked there by vagrants occupying the pavement.
The conflagration started when a vagrant reportedly threw the ignited end of her cigarette into the building, which is unoccupied and went back to sleep on the pavement as if nothing had happened.
Her fellow vagrants reported that she usually smokes and is in the habit of not putting out her cigarette afterwards.
GFS Divisional Commander, Compton Sparman told the Guyana Chronicle on Monday afternoon that they received the fire call at noon. He added that two fire tenders from Central Fire Station and one from Alberttown responded and doused the flames which had consumed the large heap of refuse inside the building. Apart from inside the building being water-soaked there is minimal damage.
Meanwhile, the pavement outside is littered with faeces, garbage and other stuff left there by vagrants who dwell there.
A vendor told this newspaper that the vagrants do everything there, including urinating and defecating, and was in support of the sprinklers being placed there since the place stinks and is so untidy that people cannot traverse there.
The stench was unbearable on Monday and passersby had to step carefully to avoid the heaps of feces on the pavement.
