Last Updated on Wednesday, 9 September 2026, 23:42 by Writer
Seventeen years after fire gutted Regent Household Electronics on Regent Street, Georgetown, a raging inferno engulfed the same business on Wednesday leaving several persons potentially without a job and destroying billions of dollars in stocks and inventory.
Proprietor Shaheed Hamid told reporters at the scene that the last fire was in 2009.
He also said all of the workers at the department store managed to flee the three-storey concrete building.
While firefighters confined the blaze to Regent Household Electronics, DM’s Beauty World which is located west was badly scorched and a lot of its stocks were water-soaked.
The cause of the fire was not immediately known.
Firefighters sourced water from the Guyana Water Incorporated’s (GWI) fire hydrants and the South Road canal.
Guyana Fire Service Deputy Chief Fire Officer Dwayne Scotland told reporters at the scene that the fire department received a call at 1:03 p.m.
He said eventually, the western end of the building collapsed.
Though the blaze was brought under control, up to after 5 p.m. red flames were seen at the back of the store.
Residents feared that the fire could have spread to wooden buildings in Charlotte Street backyards.
At about 5:15 p.m., firefighters were seen running hoses in a yard to tackle the blaze that was being fanned by a gentle north-east wind.
City Mayor Alfred Mentore commended firefighters for containing the fire to one building.
