Stall holders operating at the Stabroek Market Wharf are counting their losses after a fire suspected to be arson in nature completely ravished the area just after midnight on Monday.
Although details still remain sketchy as to how the fire started, Mayor Patricia Chase-Green who toured of the burnt facility on Tuesday morning explained that an assessment is being done to determine the amount of stalls that would have been affected as a result of the blaze.
She explained, “I received a report a little before 12am from the City Constabulary informing me of a fire at the Stabroek Market Wharf. I came down here (and) the fire fighters were already on the scene trying to contain the fire and it was contained”.
The Mayor said further stated that despite the fire fighters putting out the initial blaze, another fire started in different area at the wharf, after the Guyana Power and Light (GPL) restored electricity in the area.
The Mayor noted that the second fire was also contained by the firemen.
A shocked and sorrowful Chase-Green said the incident should never have happened, especially at a time when City Hall is in the process of relocating vendors for their own safety.
“This here should never have happened but it has happened and we have got to make sure we put more stringent measures in place to prevent people from getting at the back here because we would have closed this off many months ago but as you see people are still actively utilizing their stalls in the market,” she related.
The Mayor said she hopes that stall holders at that location would now more than ever take the opportunity to remove from the insecure area.
A vendor who spoke with this Online Publication said that stall holders who operated there would have suffered tremendous loss as refrigerators and other appliances were destroyed along with their stocks.
The back of the Stabroek Market was long overdue for rehabilitation works. In fact, the area was cordoned off to allow for these works to begin back in September.
After the area was barricaded on September 13, Town Clerk Royston King in an engagement with the media said those vendors would have to ply their trade for at least two years at the Grove/Diamond bus park.
