Fire destroys car, damages ground floor of Berbice house

A three-storey residential building at Tain, Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne) has been partly damaged by a fire that erupted there on Wednesday morning. A vehicle in the garage was, however, destroyed.
Divisional Fire Officer Clive McDonald said that, at about 5:00h on Wednesday, the department received a telephone call about the fire at Tain, and two tenders were immediately dispatched: one from the New Amsterdam Fire Station and another from the Rose Hall Town Fire Station.
“The units arrived and observed heavy smoke and fire emitting from the structure,” a release from the Fire Department said. It added that the ground floor of the three-storey building was severely damaged, while the garage and its contents, which included a vehicle, were destroyed.
McDonald said it was the fire-fighting techniques adopted by the firefighters from Rose Hall, who arrived first, that was responsible for the majority of the building being saved.
Preliminary investigations have revealed that the fire was caused by an overheated lithium-ion battery, which ignited nearby combustible materials.
The Guyana Fire Service continues to urge the public to exercise caution when using or storing lithium-ion batteries, especially in enclosed spaces.