Massive East Coast fire destroys several buildings

Several buildings were destroyed by a massive blaze on Wednesday morning at Non Pariel, East Coast Demerara.

A statement from the Guyana Fire Service revealed that the fire started at about 09:42 hrs at a single-storey wooden and concrete building owned by 48-year-old businessman Mohammed Azad Ali.

He operated a pillow shop and lived with three others.

“Unfortunately, the fire completely destroyed the building and its contents, leaving the four occupants homeless,” the Fire Service said.

The fire was caused by an overloaded sponge chipping machine that became overheated. The Fire Service also noted that the machine had been left plugged in for an extended period.

The fire then spread to nearby buildings impacting four buildings.

A storage bond located was destroyed due to the radiated heat from the building of origin.

“The external walls, a washing machine, a freezer, two tanks and a quantity of guttering and pipes of three neighboring buildings, located at Lots 22, 26, and 27 Block 12, Non Pariel, suffered varying degrees of damage, also from the radiated heat,” the Fire Service revealed.

Firefighters had to use four jets to fully extinguish the fire.

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