FIREFIGHTERS were called Saturday morning to quell a fire at Buddy’s located on Sheriff Street after sections of the four-storey building became engulfed in smoke.
A visit to the location saw several fire tenders and police attempting to control the fire which is believed to have been started by an overheated generator located on the southern side of

the property owned by “Buddy” Shivraj.

Workers and customers of Buddy’s as well as Lens, located to the southern side of Buddy’s, were evacuated until the situation was brought under control.
Ryan Shivraj, son of proprietor “Buddy” Shivraj told the Guyana Chronicle that he was in his office when he heard screams of “Fire, Fire!” emanating from outside of the building.
At that time, he alerted all staff and ensured that everyone was evacuated.

“When I looked out, I saw the smoke and we started to evacuate the building,” said Shivraj, who noted that there was never an electrical issue at the location.
However, Fire Chief Marlon Gentle told reporters that quick response by the Guyana Fire Service averted a major fire at the Sheriff Street location.
He said the Guyana Fire Service received three calls at about 10:30hrs indicating that there was thick smoke coming from the bottom flat of Buddy’s.

Three fire tenders, from Campbellville, Alberttown, and the Central Fire Station arrived promptly on the scene and battled with heavy smoke conditions on the southern end of the building.

“Campbellville was the first unit arriving and they reported heavy conditions, heavy smoke conditions on the southern side, which is the generator area. The fires were somewhere between the generators and the building and the other units came on scene quickly and were able to surround the fire, tackle it and put it out.”

Gentle said based on initial investigation, it appears that the fire started as a result of some electrical malfunction during the operation of the generator.
He noted too that the fire may have occurred as a result of some changes to the initial plan for the premises.
“Also, based on our last review of this building last year, there have been some significant changes to the operations of this building, namely: a floor that we once knew as a pool hall is now converted to a school and the bottom floor, there are some renovation works that seem to suggest some type of fast-food operations that will be coming here,” said the fire chief.
Gentle was seen talking to the senior Shivraj who has accepted that there have been changes to the use of the building. Those changes were done unbeknown to the Guyana Fire Service.

“We now have to engage them because clearly, a change in occupancy will mean different fire safety measures would have to be put in place. Clearly, some of the fire-safety measures that were in place are not adequate to first detect this problem; secondly, the amount of generators that we see there…we knew of only two generators, one large and one small …we are now seeing another bank of generators which of course we believe may have led to the electrical failure,” he added.

Additionally, the Guyana Fire Service will be communicating with its technical partners at the Ministry of Public Infrastructure’s development and electrical inspection department, along with the City Engineers Department to find out whether plans were submitted for changes to the building.