Guyana: Major fire at Barnwell leaves one homeless

Barnwell, Guyana: A fire incident destroyed a two-storey building at Barnwell, East Bank Essequibo (EBE) due to a leaking propane cylinder on Thursday evening. 

According to reports the fire services were alerted about the incident at 7:22 in the evening and the firefighters took charge of the incident at 7:50.

The building is reported to be owned by a 47-year-old man, Vickram Ramai, however it was occupied by 29-year-old Aria Chen who was the sole tenant to the property.

Investigations indicated that the fire originated due to a faulty propane cylinder which was leaking gas. The incident occurred, after leakage got in contact with an open flame.

Reportedly, the building was carved out of wood and concrete, making it more prone to damage. No casualties have been reported in the incident but it left Chen homeless.

A similar incident was also reported from Georgetown, Guyana, where the Starter’s Nursery School, located at Camp Street, Georgetown suffered a massive fire Thursday morning.

The firefighters stood to help in eradicating the fire and completely got control of it at 10:48 in the morning.

According to the sources the firefighters came to rescue at 10:38 and completely took control in 10 mins after the first stream of water was deployed.

The government owned property was a two-floor concrete building which served as a learning institution for the young children.

The cause of the fire is considered to be a breakdown in the electrical distribution panel, which supposedly led to sparking and ultimately igniting the nearby highly combustible materials.

There is no casualty reported, however, the massive fire resulted in damage to 2m x 2m of concrete wall, 8m x 3m of sheet rock, and the destruction of one electrical distribution panel breaker.

The immediate response of the fire services and coordinated efforts of all personnel, successfully helped extinguish the fire in no time leaving everyone safe.