– plunge entire town into darkness
Firefighters attached to the Anna Regina Fire Station in Region Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam) were on Tuesday night successful in extinguishing a fire that started in the Caterpillar engines of the Guyana Power and Light (GPL) branch in the town.
The incident occurred around 20:30h at the company’s power plant aback of Anna Regina.
According to information reaching Guyana Times, security guards saw the flames from inside the plant and immediately informed the Fire Station. When firefighters reached the scene, numerous cables from the Caterpillar engines were on fire. Firemen managed to provide sufficient water to extinguish the huge flames that erupted from the plant. The incident has since left the entire town of Anna Regina, from Three Friends to Walton Hall Village without electricity.
Residents of Reliance, Anna Regina and Richmond have since experienced more than 15 hours of darkness. Many small shop owners have complained that items such as ice cream, sausages and chicken have spoilt. Supermarket owners have been forced to use generators to continue their business.
Residents are calling on the Government of Guyana to provide the Region, particularly Anna Regina with new engines. The engines are said to have outlived their years of service and would malfunction often.
Over the past two months, residents living within the town have been experiencing constant power outages on account of the obsolete engines at the plant. They are calling for an immediate intervention from the Government of Guyana as many were without electricity.
