A LATE-NIGHT fire on Thursday gutted the headquarters of the Guyana Trades Union Congress (GTUC) and its education arm, the Critchlow Labour College (CLC).
The building is located at Woolford Avenue, Georgetown. It is owned by the GTUC, and at the time housed the CLU, University of Excellence, Management and Business, and the Angela Apple-White-Hercules canteen.
Fire Chief Gregory Wickham told this publication that the Guyana Fire Service (GFS) received the alert about the blaze at around 23:45 hours on Thursday. He said firefighters, along with three fire tenders, were dispatched to the scene within five minutes.

Upon arrival, he said, one of the buildings was already completely engulfed in flames, with several pockets of fire observed throughout the structure.
Given the intensity of the blaze, an additional fire tender had to be deployed to help bring the situation under control.
Wickham said the cause of the fire is yet to be determined as investigations continue.
The GTUC, in a statement issued Friday, expressed deep sorrow over the destruction of its facilities, which include the long-standing Critchlow Labour College—an institution that has educated generations of Guyanese across all regions and ethnicities over its 50-year history.
“The education arm of the GTUC has served hundreds of thousands of Guyanese, from all walks of life, all ethnic groups, from all parts of Guyana,” the statement read, adding: “A great percentage of these benefitted from a Critchlow education that enabled them to enter the Cyril Potter College of Education, the University of Guyana, and other tertiary institutions.”
The union noted that this was not the first fire to destroy its property, recalling that the initial blaze occurred on March 22, 2025. The GFS determined that the fire was caused by outdated electrical panels overheating.