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Fire Chief, Marlon Gentle has said that initial investigations into Sunday night’s fire on Regent Street which destroyed Singh’s Electronics Store have revealed that there was “no form of legal electricity” at the make-shift structure stationed where the former Sachi Superstore was located.
“What we’ve learned so far is that this structure where the fire started from, which was the old burned down Sachi site, they had constructed some kind of make-shift tent and then they wrapped it in plastic so as to have some kind of a store going,” Gentle told Village Voice Guyana Monday.
The Fire Chief said too that no permission was received from authorities for the establishment of the temporary structure.
“We have confirmed from the City Engineers Department that no permission was given for any temporary structure there and what we learned so far is that they began to stock stuff subsequently, either Friday or Saturday, with apparently decorative items, toys and so on, preparing for the Christmas and this building had no form of legal electricity,” he said.
The fire at Singh’s Electronics, at Lot 136 Regent Street, took place one building away from the GUYOIL gas station and failure to control the fire could have proven much more disastrous.
“We’re still working with the Government electrical department to clarify clearly what went wrong there but it’s pointing in the direction that there may have been unsafe use of electricity that started the fire…we found evidence of drop cords and different types of contraptions,” Gentle told Village Voice Guyana.
The Sachi Superstore was destroyed by fire in February 2020 and according to the Fire Chief, both fires are different in nature. He said investigations revealed that the fire in February showed evidence of forced entry.
“We found evidence of cutting torches and welding cylinders and so on that we thought were used to cut and gain entry,” he said.
Sunday’s losses are estimated in the millions.
