Quick action by the Guyana Fire Service averted a major fire at the Buddy’s building located on Sheriff Street on Saturday morning.
When INews arrived on the seen vehicular traffic was diverted from that section of Sheriff Street and fire fighters were seen dousing the area which was emanating smoke.
Owner of the building, Buddy Shivraj related that one of the generators overheated and burst into flames while it was on.
He said that the entire area where the generators are situated were in flames, noting that the building is not powered by Guyana Power and Light (GPL) but by three generators that are situated on the ground floor on the southern section of the building.
Shivraj noted that this is the first time such an incident occurred at the four storey concrete building situated at 137 Sheriff Street, Campbellville Georgetown.
The building is currently being rented to a number of businesses including a Gym, restaurant and University, with the ground floor being renovated.
Chief Fire Officer, Marlon Gentle, arrived shortly after and briefed the media.
According to Gentle, he received a call around 10:30hrs and his fire fighters responded immediately and were able to quickly contain the blaze to the generator area.
He went on to say that it seems that the fire may have started as a result of an electrical malfunction to one of the generators while it was in operation.
According to Gentle, there have been some significant changes to the building from last year that were done unknown to him.
This he said would have to be looked at to allow for adequate fire safety measures to be implemented to suit the restructured building.
He noted that a change in occupancy means different fire safety measures would have to be put in place since the present ones are not adequate to detect fires. (Photos/story by Carl Croker)
