Fire destroys Demerara Distillers Limited power station

A fire of unknown origin erupted in the Generator Room of Demerara Distillers Limited (DDL) at Plantation Diamond on Friday at approximately 16:30 hrs.

Initial investigations by the Guyana Police Force and the Guyana Fire Service revealed that the fire started in the generator room, a 60×60 concrete building housing seven generators that powers the entire DDL compound.

Brian Deoraj, a 39-year-old engineer at the facility, reported that upon arriving at work, he noticed issues with two generators—one Cummings 3516 and one Caterpillar 3520—which were not operating optimally.

At around 16:20 hrs, a power outage prompted Deoraj and other staff members to check the generator room, where they discovered the Caterpillar generator engulfed in flames.

An alarm was promptly raised, and the Guyana Fire Service was alerted. Fire Tender 92, led by Sub-officer Lenander from the Eccles Fire Station, arrived swiftly with a team of 20 ranks to combat the blaze.

The fire caused extensive damage to all generators in the room and affected the building’s roof, but fortunately, no injuries were reported.

In a statement from DDL, it was confirmed that the fire was first observed at approximately 16:40 hrs near one of the generating sets.

The DDL Fire Response Team acted quickly to control the situation until the Guyana Fire Service arrived, effectively containing the fire to the power station and preventing further damage to other facilities.

Firefighters continue to work diligently to extinguish the remaining flames, while authorities are conducting a thorough investigation to determine the cause of the fire.