The early Sunday morning fire at the Guyana National Shipping Corporation (GNSC) wharf at Lombard Street, Georgetown was confined to a single building and the Fire Chief (ag) Gregory Wickham says that this fire was an act of arson.
“It was maliciously set by a person or persons unknown,” Wickham told the News Room on Monday afternoon after he received the firefighters’ investigation report.
The Fire Chief could not, however, state what the findings were that led investigators to conclude that the fire was maliciously set. He did not say what was used to set the fire either.
He only highlighted that the “investigative work has proved that it was maliciously set.”
Explaining why he could not release any further details, the Fire Chief said that if the matter is taken to court, those details could potentially affect proceedings.
The fire reportedly started at around 08:20hrs in the corporation’s central workshop which is located behind the GNSC’s Head Office. Though this workshop was gutted, numerous firefighters at the scene managed to keep the blaze from spreading.
At the scene on Sunday, Home Affairs Minister Robeson Benn said that this fire was of particular concern since another fire devastated the nearby Laparkan shipping complex just about two weeks before.
The Home Affairs Minister continues to plead with business owners to install fire prevention systems.
