Poor fire-fighting equipment...plus unreliable water supply...result Fire Devastates Entire City Block
MY HOUSE IS BURNT down now, what will I do?” This was the question 75-yearold Irene Coates, one of the victims in last week’s Leopold Street fire asked.
The fire destroyed 14 homes in Werken-Rust whilst firemen put up a futile struggle to extinguish the blaze which has left more than 100 persons homeless.
One eyewitness said the fire apparently started in Fung’s Bakery around 7 p.m. last Friday and began to spread quickly westward. The witness claimed that the fire engine and personnel from the Guyana Electricity Corporation arrived at least half an hour after they received the first call.
By the time they reached the scene, Fung’s Bakery was completely destroyed and the fire had spread to other buildings, the eyewitness claimed.
She continued that there was a mad rush to find a fire hydrant. When one was found, it was useless because of low water pressure. The witness said that the men eventually decided to get water from the Princes Street canal.
By this time, the fire was a raging inferno jumping from building to building, even blowing across D’Urban Street and onto the buildings on the south which started to burn also, the witness said.
A second fire engine started to douse those houses in an attempt to save them, she added.
One anguished victim whose home and business were completely destroyed, said he pleaded with a fireman to save his place, but the fireman gently explained to him that all the fire engines in this country combined would make only one efficient fire engine. There was only so much they can do.
Meanwhile, the police were finding it extremely difficult to, control the crowds and widespread looting began.
One woman whose house was scorched said she lost more of her household articles to looters than to the fire.
One witness said that: “If it was not for civilian help the Fire Service was useless.”
However, another eyewitness feels that the firemen could not be blamed: “After all, how much can they do with what little they have? Whose fault was it the fire hydrant was not working?
Another eyewitness living opposite the scene claimed the fire burnt itself out.
An elderly victim asked how can this country be called the land of many waters and there is is always low water pressure? Dejected, she asked: “What is happening in this place?”
Another victim, who professed not to be in a “talking state of mind” just asked: “Is everytime there is a fire in one house people living in the next twenty homes have to evacuate their houses?”
She was refering to the December Kingston fire when several houses were completely destroyed.
All the victims interviewed said that if the fire service had responded promptly to the call, some homes might have been saved. But others pointed out that the water pressure took a long time to build up. So even if they had come early there still would have been a problem.
Up until noon the next day electrical wires were still lying across the street, and fire was smouldering in some places. Crowds continued to scavenge in the debris over the weekend and it was reputed that a gold chain was found.
It is understood too, that the Fung family was unable to save any of their belongings.
The fire reportedly started in one of the bakery ovens. Attempts to put it out with a fire extinguisher appeared to have succeeded but then it flared up again and there was a great deal of smoke.
Mr. Fung, who had recently come out of hospital, collapsed and had to be taken away. The fire brigade was summoned by a member of the Fung’s family immediately after the alarm was raised. Others in the vicinity reportedly rang for the fire engine also.
Observers have expressed concern as to the state of fire fighting equipment in the country and the water supply situation. Together, these problems create a situation in which fires do more damage than would normally be the case.