A fire that destroyed vending stalls at Bourda Street, Georgetown, on Monday morning was allegedly started by a vagrant who left it unattended.
The fire started at about 7:50 hrs at a stall that is now completely destroyed.
According to persons at the scene, the stall was quickly engulfed in flames while others to the left and right suffered damages.
Videos of the fire seen by the News Room show that the Guyana Fire Service (GFS) responded several minutes after the fire started and managed to swiftly extinguish the flames.
Jonan Johnson, a vendor, explained that the destroyed stall belonged to her sister.
Johnson was at her stall in the market when she heard about the fire and rushed over. She suspects the fire was started by a vagrant who sleeps in the area.
“I heard someone say ‘fire over there!’
“When I reach over, it was smoke now escalating into fire and then the crowd start to come. A big man that does live around always burning things around deh. A man said he see two Brazilian with the big man walk out of there this morning and after then he notice smoke and then it escalated,” Johnson said.
She commended the City Council, the Guyana Power and Light and the Fire Service for their prompt response.
“The fire wheel come in time and thank God that they safe. I couldn’t do nothing when I come because it did done escalate into fire,” she noted.
Johnson lamented several issues that vendors face with vagrants in the area and she called on the authorities to intervene.
“They need to take these junkies off the road. [They need to] build somewhere and put them because they are making hazard in the town because they moving rubbish from one place, throw it at a next place,” the vendor complained.
Meanwhile, Aubrey Grandon, said one of the nearby stalls belongs to his sister and he said he is pleased with the swift response of the fire service.
“I was in the area and I mek a call to she [his sister], and I come, open out, check out and do what they [GFS] had to do, no damages was done so they did a wonderful job,” Grandon said.
