Georgetown: Had the landlord acted on complaints made by tenants a raging fire that consumed 30 apartments in a housing complex at Lot 46 Third Street, Cummings Lodge, East Coast Demerara-might have been prevented, tenants said.
Friday last a fire of electrical origin razed the complex which housed mostly students at the University of Guyana (UG), Texila American University (TAU), Cyril Potter College of Education (CPCE) and young working adults salvaged through the debris.
Tenants pointed out that this disaster could have been avoided if the landlord, Mr. Tarachand Balgobin, Director of Project Cycle Management Division, Ministry of Finance, had listened to their numerous complaints of the building, having electrical problems.
Based on reports, there have been several complaints to the landlord by the residents of electrical wires sparking in the apartment complex, more specifically in Room 2. Efforts to secure an audience with the tenant of Room 2 proved futile.
A Senior Fire Service official said that the fire is suspected to be of electrical nature. The official stated that up to yesterday, firemen were still at the scene conducting investigations.
The blaze began in Room 2 on the lower flat of the wooden and concrete two-storey building.
According to a tenant, electrical wires began sparking in the room, which was built mostly of wood. The tenant said that he and other persons who occupied the building were alerted to the fire after a burning scent began emanating from the room.
He said that they were forced to kick down the door to the room because no one was home at the time.
However, he added that by the time they were able to gain access to the room the fire was already “out of control”. He said that other occupants of the building were alerted and quickly ran to safety as the fire service was summoned.
“If we had a fire extinguisher we might have been able to put out this fire before it spread.
We didn’t expect this fire to spread so fast. Everybody come with water and start throwing. But after the fire got out of control we call the fire people,” a tenant said.
The tenant continued, “Them firemen took a while to come but when they come they had to wait on GPL to come and disconnect power from the building. All of that make this place burn down so…that delay.”
However, Mr. Balgobin has refuted reports of tenants complaining to him about the premises having electrical problems. Mr. Balgobin said that each apartment has its own electrical circuit and pre-paid metre.
“Is not like there is an overload. Every room has its own electrical circuit. Nobody complained to me about any electrical problems here.”
The landlord assumed that the tenant in Room 2 might have left an electrical appliance on and went about his business, causing the appliance to overheat and resulting in the fire.
When firefighters arrived at the scene they were left helpless as they waited for officials from the Guyana Power and Light (GPL) to disconnect power in the area.
This incident, according to Randy, will be hard to recover from since he was unable to save any of his belongings. He said grimly, “I expect to get compensation from the owner, but he’s not saying anything.”
Navin Manohar, another occupant who resided in the apartment building for 14 months now, said, “The fire broke out from the bottom room which was right below my bed.” He said too, that he attempted to extinguish the fire along with the help of other occupants but they failed.
“I rushed back to my room and all I managed to save were a few pieces of clothes, my laptop, my phone and my passport,” Navin recounted. He also attested, “It took a while for GPL to switch off the power and that may have contributed further to the building being aflame longer.”
Crestfallen, Navin said, “What we were expecting is that our landlord at least show us some courtesy… at least enquire last night if we have somewhere to sleep or something to eat.” Instead, Navin explained that the landlord, whom he identified as Mr. Balgobin, “came this morning uttering that his insurance has expired.”
The young man, barely keeping his tears at bay, highlighted that he too hails from the Essequibo Coast and this 14-month period was the first time he spent away from home. Navin is a teacher at the Richard Ishmael Secondary School, a Biology Major and is currently pursuing his Bachelor’s Degree in Education at the University of Guyana.
Sachin Persaud, who is studying to become a Medical Lab Technician at the Georgetown School of Nursing Annex, highlighted that he and his brother resided in the room which is situated just after the one where the fire originated.
He also recounted that they tried to extinguish the fire, but realised that doing so was not possible. Heroically, Sachin said he helped one female occupant to remove her belongings from the building but in so doing, he was unable to save much of his own belongings.
“All I could’ve done is watch the place burn,” Sachin said, while he noted that he lost all his documents, electronics, clothes and much more. He noted too that he made several complaints about the electrical problems in the building.
Unfortunately, even the luckiest person in this situation who managed to be residing in the only room left unharmed by the fire is still faced with a grim situation. First-year dental student at the University of Guyana, Jewel La Fleur, said, “I’m going to have to look for somewhere to stay.”
Jewel hails from Berbice and this is definitely going to present some problems, especially since the new semester begins in just about two weeks.
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