Brickdam Station inferno : Fire Chief directed to proceed on leave with immediate effect

In the wake of the Brickdam Police Station inferno on Saturday that saw the majority of the iconic structure being razed to the ground Fire Chief Kalamadeen Edoo has been directed to proceed on leave with immediate effect.
This was confirmed when this publication made contact with Home Affairs Minister Robeson Benn. “He’s been told to proceed on leave,” the minister said, though he could not say how many leave days Edoo had outstanding or whether he had even obeyed the directive to proceed on leave. Efforts to get details from the Fire Service’s PR department on the issue were also futile.

Edoo only took over the reins of the Guyana Fire Service (GFS) in February of this year, when former Fire Chief Marlon Gentle retired after 36 years of service. During Saturday’s fire, Edoo was present on the scene – albeit in plain clothes and with no protective gear.
The fire started at about 11:00h, consuming 80 per cent of the three-storey structure.
Among the destroyed facilities are the Property Room, Inquires Office, Traffic Department and Officers’ Mess. Just the barracks, located on the western end and lining Manget Place, remained intact, along with the Impact Building and the lockups.
All 16 prisoners within the facility were accounted for. Salvage records were saved, and the station’s arsenal of weapons was secure before the building was completely destroyed.
This publication understands that 398 officers were working from the compound at the time of the fire.
On Saturday last, a suspect reportedly confessed on video to setting the Police Headquarters on fire after he was ratted on by two of his cellmates. Based on reports, the suspect was recently arrested in connection with an alleged robbery-under-arms incident, and was placed in the Brickdam lockups prior to starting the fire.
The man told the Police that he became frustrated after being detained for a long period of time, and he then decided to start the fire. The confession led Police to question all the prisoners at the Brickdam Station at the time of the incident.
The two informants were taken from the Brickdam lockups to the Sparendaam Station on the East Coast of Demerara (ECD), where they were placed in a cell with the suspect.
During that time in the cell, the suspect allegedly informed the men that it was he who had started the fire which destroyed the Station.
The two men said the man allegedly told them that he took a piece of sponge, wrapped it on a piece of wire, and lit it with a cigarette lighter before pushing it through a ventilation hole in the cell.
It is reported that the cell was connected to another room that had some documents in it, and that was how the fire was started. The suspect was later interviewed on camera, and he allegedly confessed again to Police. (G3)