Fire guts section of Guyana Stores Universal Building

Last Updated on Wednesday, 19 October 2022, 9:44 by Denis Chabrol

A fireman going to check on a small amount of smoke that was emanating from the building.

An early Wednesday morning fire gutted the eastern end of Guyana Stores’ Universal Building, and fire fighters are being hailed for their work in containing the blaze despite a heavy wind and combustible materials.

Fire Chief Gregory Wickham said after the fire service received a call at about 1:29 AM , they responded and doused the flames with water and broke the grills and doors to gain entry to the building. He said investigators were yet to determine the cause of the blaze but on entering fire fighters reported seeing several pockets of fire on the top and ground floors.

“The first tender arrived and ranks reported that they saw multiple seats of fire and so they went into operation immediately,” he said.

The Fire Chief said the operation suffered a setback “for a little while” because of the grill and metal doors that secured the store.

Five tenders responded to the fire call and, according to Mr Wickham, the fire fighters did a “great job” at containing the blaze and prevent it from spreading to other parts of the building. “..the hard work by the fire fighters because we were able to break some windows in order to do fire fighting while at the same time we were trying to gain entry into the building proper to do fire fighting,” Mr Wickham.

Guyana Stores workers outside the supermarket.

Police were also praised for assisting with traffic and access control.

Stocks of clothing and household appliances were seen through the broken windows.

Guyana Stores employees arrived at work but doors to the supermarket, clothing and furniture departments remained closed. “This what we get our daily bread from,” an employee remarked as she and her colleagues stood at the barrier outside the supermarket.

Meanwhile, poor drainage on Main Street resulted in the pavement being flooded and Courts having to place a makeshift bridge for customers and employees to enter.

Formerly Bookers Stores, the business was taken over by the government in the 1970s at the height of Guyana’s socialist experiment. When Guyana reverted to a market economy in the late 1980s and 1990s at the end of the Cold War, the business changed hands to a local private sector group.