Fire at Prison Service living quarters was electrical – Fire Chief

An investigation into the fire which destroyed the Prison Service living quarters at Parade Street, Kingston last Friday found that the fire was electrical in origin.

This was confirmed by Fire Chief (ag) Gregory Wickham who told the News Room that an electrical circuit overheated and caused the fire.

“From our investigation, it was revealed that the fire was electrical in nature.

“Something overloaded but we can’t point out to say which item or appliance it was,” Wickham told the News Room on Wednesday.

The fire destroyed the entire two-storey wooden building, displacing some 30 prison officers. The affected officers have since been permanently relocated to a new staff accommodation at Lusignan, East Coast Demerara.

The new living facility was built to accommodate a total of 150 prison officers.

And to support them, the officers received $1.8M from the Guyana Prison Service Credit union.