No evidence of fire at vote recount centre- Fire Chief

Last Updated on Wednesday, 13 May 2020, 21:32 by Denis Chabrol

Fire fighters early Wednesday night found no evidence of fire, shortly after someone reported the smell of burning rubber at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre (ACCC), Fire Chief Marlon Gentle said.

The Liliendaal, Greater Georgetown-based ACCC, the venue for the recount of general election votes, was checked by fire fighters and electricians from the Centre.

“We found no evidence of fire,” Gentle told Demerara Waves Online News/ News-Talk Radio Guyana 103.1 FM.

He said all the rooms were checked and nothing.

The Fire Chief said “we will be monitoring it for the rest of the night.”

GECOM spokeswoman, Yolanda Ward added that it is believed that the smell could have been from a truck in the compound that was there to look after the portable toilets.

All eyes are on the ACCC where up to Wednesday night only 367 of the 2,339 boxes of ballots were counted.

GECOM is Thursday expected to receive experts from the COVID-19 Task Force to inspect five areas inside the building where additional counting stations can be established.

Currently, there are 10 workstations that have been recounting the ballots since last week Wednesday.