…GFS says Gafoors fire was either arson or accident

THE fire at the Gafoor’s Huston Complex was either maliciously or accidently set and the Guyana Fire Service will get down to the bottom of it, Officer-in-Charge of Operations, Compton Sparman said on Tuesday.

At around 12:00h on Tuesday, Sparman and other officers from the Guyana Fire Service revisited the scene at Huston, East Bank Demerara, even as a team of 13 firemen were doing a “mop-up” exercise to ensure that the fire, which ignited in Bond Six of the Complex on Monday night, was completely extinguished.

In an interview with Guyana Chronicle, the Officer-in-Charge of Operations said preliminary investigation into the fire has reveal that the bond was closed at 17:30h; there were no combustible material in the facility and no electricity. They had gathered these critical pieces of information from the supervisors.

“They said that the bond was closed at 5:30, and we got the call one hour after at 6:30 and by the time we got here, the entire bond was already engulfed in flames,” Sparman said while noting that this is a major cause for concern.

It was pointed out too that there were non-combustible materials in the bond such as tiles, sanitary hardware and Christmas items, none of which could have caused a fire. “So we want to know how it could propagate at that level. No electricity…No form of heat source that dwells within, so we will have to dig deep,” he posited.

Given the circumstances surrounding the fire, the Officer-in-Charge of Operations said several employees will have to be interviewed by the fire investigators. “We will have to talk to the persons who dwell within the bond and who last locked the bond up,” he added.
Additionally, Sparman told Guyana Chronicle that the magnitude of the fire could have been significantly reduced if all of the recommendations provided by the Fire Service following the first fire in May were implemented.

While the Management of Gafoor’s was able to erect solid concrete partition walls and enhance ventilation within the facility, it was unable to install the sprinklers.

“We recommended that they do solid concrete walls, what we call partition walls, so if you have a fire, it would be contained and that was done,” he posited.

Additionally, Sparman said too that fire fighters were able to contain the fire to a single bond because of the ventilation mechanism that was in place, but emphasised that the scale of the fire could have been reduced if the sprinklers were installed.

“If you had a sprinkler system, it would not have reached to this level because it would have actuate an alarm, and it would have started cooling whatever was burning until the fire service arrives,” Officer-in-Charge of Operations further explained.

Owner of the Gafoor’s Huston Complex, Sattaur Gafoor declined to speak with Guyana Chronicle on Tuesday.

However, on Monday while the fire fighters were battling to contain the blaze, he had explained that the sprinklers are being imported and are expected shortly.

He too was unclear as to how the fire started. “Because of the last fire, up to now there is no electricity there. There is no combustible material there. So I am wondering what could have caused the fire. It is very difficult, very difficult, and we would have taken a lot of precautions to ensure that nothing goes wrong,” Gafoor told reporters.

Asked about a possible sabotage, he said only the investigator could make that determination. “Can’t say it is sabotage…only investigators can say that,” he posited.

Some 80 employees are now affected due to the blaze, but it is the hope of Gafoor that no one will be out of a job. Though the fire has caused a dent in the operation of the complex, the non-affected areas at Huston were in business mode.