–contain mid-afternoon fire to top floor only

A MID-afternoon fire has left the top floor of the building that houses Kanhai’s Electrical and Variety Store, on Charlotte Street in down-town Georgetown, severely damaged.
The fire, according to reports, began sometime around 14:00 hrs on Sunday, and saw the Guyana Fire Service responding quickly, which is perhaps how it was able to be contained to the top floor only, and save the entire building from being reduced to rubble.

According to Joseph Kanhai, son of the business’s proprietor, all he knows about the fire is that it originated at the top floor of the building, though he couldn’t say how. He was, however, able to confirm that there were several persons on the premises at the time word spread that there was a fire in progress, as one floor of the building serves as a hostel of sorts for some Brazilian nationals staying in the country.
He explained that while the tenants occupy the second floor, the first and ground floors are used as a storeroom and place of operation for the electrical aspect of the business.
“We don’t even know what going on,” young Kanhai said. “We get a call that the building on fire, and I came down. All we know is that no one was up there, and maybe it was a minor electrical thing that caused it.”
Reports are that the second floor of the building houses 16 Brazilians, who were all thankfully able to escape to safety after hearing the breaking of the upstairs windows due to the heat.
The Guyana Fire Service, meanwhile, has begun its investigation into the origin of the fire.