Deadly Mahdia fire CoI: “No chance” fire was electrical in nature – Fire Inspector

…convinced it was maliciously set

There is no chance that the Mahdia dormitory fire was electrical in nature, as the Guyana Fire Service’s investigation corroborated the fire was “maliciously set”.
This was according to the Fire Inspector of the Fire Prevention Department, Javid Mohamed, who appeared on Friday before the Commission of Inquiry that was launched into the deadly fire which claimed the lives of 19 girls and one five-year-old boy.

Mohamed recounted that he arrived at Mahdia via a Guyana Defence Force (GDF) sky-van after 06:00h on May 22 to commence the probe.
“When I got there, I noticed a crowd. Police had cordoned off the area…Firefighters were mopping up, which is where they would try extinguishing the small pockets of fire remaining and smoke. The building was completely destroyed but the fire was extinguished,” he told the Commission.
Mohamed added that after a situation report, the information received was that someone physically informed the Mahdia Fire Station of the incident.
“We continued with our investigation and did a walkthrough…It was really devastating to see a dorm like that. We went to holes that they made on the wall to rescue students. We took interviews from several persons and then we went over to the hospital to interview the students…The security guards said the fire began in the north-eastern side of the building which is approximately by the washroom area. It was confirmed by the other students who were in the building, as well as the dorm father and mother.”
Using their investigative capacity, the firefighters said there was no chance it could have been an electrical fire. In the area where the fire started, the door was permanently sealed off with about five mattresses piled up and a condemned washing machine in a makeshift storage area.
“We look for burn patterns. The most common we look for is the V pattern. That would indicate where the fire started and how it burned…It was that said area at the north-eastern door. There is no chance because during the investigation, we thoroughly combed the area and there were no electrical outlets there.”
Having interviewed one of the survivors, Mohamed said he learnt that a few hours before the fire started, there was an incident where the dorm mother found that a student was in possession of a cell phone – which is against the rules of the dormitory.
Having difficulties confiscating the phone, the Deputy Head Mistress was called in and took away the phone.
The Guyana Fire Service has concluded that the fire was maliciously set, having obtained sufficient evidence of such.
The Fire Inspector reasoned to support this conclusion, “Because there was no presence of an external heat source, it would require human intervention to start a fire in that area.”
A 15-year-old girl was charged in June with 20 counts of murder. She has since been detained at a juvenile holding facility.
She was charged with the murders of Tracil Thomas; Lisa Roberts; Delicia Edwards; Lorita Williams; Natalie Bellarmine; Arriana Edwards; Cleoma Simon; Subrina John; Martha Dandrade; Loreen Evans; Belnisa Evans; Mary Dandrade; Omerfia Edwin; Nickleen Robinson; Sherina Daniels; Eulander Carter; Sherlyn Bellarmine; Andrea Roberts; Bibi Rita Jeffrey, and five-year-old Adanye Jerome.
The Mahdia school’s dormitory housed students from the communities of Karisparu, El Paso, Micobie, and Chenapao, Region Eight (Potaro-Siparuni).
At the time of the fire, there were 56 females and a five-year-old boy inside. The remaining students had gone home for the weekend. The dormitory’s 26 windows were heavily grilled and the five doors were locked when the fire broke out. (Rupa Seenaraine)