Building had no electricity, no heat source – Sparman

… as firefighters dig deep into cause

Officer-in-Charge of Operations at the Guyana Fire Service, Compton Sparman, has indicated that the fire service is baffled by the fire that razed the Gafoors Huston Complex on Monday night, pointing out that there was no electricity or any form of heat source to start the fire.
He stated that the investigation is ongoing as the fire service is trying to extinguish the debris and ensure that there is no fire before they withdraw completely.

“For the preliminary investigations we will have to talk to persons who last dwelled within the bond and who last locked the bond up because based on the preliminary investigation we spoke to persons, supervisors, they said that the bond was closed at 05:20pm (17:20h), and we got the call one hour after at 06:30pm (18:30h) and by the time we got here, the entire bond was already engulfed in flames,” he said.
He highlighted that the materials stored in the bond were titles and white cement and a small amount of Christmas decoration items.
“So we want to know how it could propagate at that level. No electricity, if you look, it is a bond that was constructed based on the last fire that they would have had. But because I think they cramped for space make they use the bond. No electricity, no form of heat source that dwells within, so we will have to dig deep. Nobody was inside,” he said, adding, “it started in Bond Six and confined in it. Now we have two vehicles with approximately 13 men working.”
When asked on whether Gafoors had implemented all fire precautions for the complex, he stated that they were implemented partially.
“We recommend that they do solid concrete walls, what we call them is partition walls so if you have a fire, it would be contained and that was done,” he noted.
He stated, however, that Gafoors added ventilation to the ceiling so that in an event of a fire, the heat goes up because hot air rises, so it would not spread across, posing an advantage for the fire service.
“But the fire fighting capability was not in place because the structure was not completed,” he said.
Chief Executive Officer of Gafoors, Abdool Sattaur Gafoor, had indicated that the company was now recuperating from the effects of the previous fire and they had ordered the sprinklers from overseas and that it was expected to arrive shortly.
Gafoor was unable to remain stoic as part of his multibillion-dollar complex went up in flames for a second time within four months. Gafoor stated that he was talking to his bond manager when another employee interrupted them about a fire in Bond Six, where tiles and white cement were stored.
According to Gafoor, he did everything to prevent a second occurrence of the May 18, 2016, fire which ravaged through several sections of the complex.
“All the precautions were in place. We put measures like fire extinguishers, water, there is no electricity in the area as yet because we are still doing the wiring and there is no combustible, so it is left for me to believe this is something other than nature cause occurred here,” he said. “I can’t believe this. I can’t believe it is happening,” he said.
In the last fire, Gafoor’s losses were estimated at $12 billion.
When Guyana Times visited the complex on Tuesday, firefighters were still dousing the bond. Gafoor declined to speak with the media and they were told that he was in and out of Board meetings. This newspaper was unable to garner information on if he met with the 80 employees who would be affected by the fire.