Tenders were strategically placed to contain Park Hotel fire - John Stabroek News May 11, 2000 The seven fire tenders which responded to the blaze at the Park Hotel on Main Street on Saturday were strategically placed to contain the anticipated spread of the fire, according to Fire Chief Tulsi John. John told Stabroek News yesterday the wind, the radiated heat and the dieselene stored in the compound posed a threat to Customs House and Palm Court and there was the fear too that it could spread to the waterfront. Accordingly, he said that the tenders were strategically placed: the tender from West Ruimveldt was located at the Wieting and Richter Wharf; the one from Ogle at a hydrant on Urquhart Street; the one from Campbellville at the hydrant on New Market Street; and there were tenders at the hydrants in front of State House and Palm Court. Disputing the contents of a letter published in the Stabroek News yesterday, which said that there was only one hose on the fire, John said that there were seven operational jets on it. He said too that some of the 50 ranks who had turned out to the fire were in the Park Hotel compound fighting the fire, and doubted whether any spectator could have seen them or attest to the extent of the Fire Brigade's activities. Noting an article in the Sunday Stabroek on the Great Fire of 1945 in Georgetown which destroyed a number of buildings despite the presence of two fireboats, John commended his men for being able to contain the fire to the Park Hotel compound. The Fire Chief was loud in his praise for the assistance which members of the public rendered as well as that by former Fire Chief Carl Rogers and leading fireman Hammond. He also complimented the police for the excellent job of crowd control. Police Commissioner, Laurie Lewis, said that the crowd had reached some 3,000 at one time during the fire. The fire on Saturday which raged for some two hours gutted the building which housed the Park Hotel and the New Thriving Restaurant on the ground floor. The fire threatened the Palm Court Restaurant and Bar and Customs House but quick work by the brigade negated the threat. Up to yesterday, firemen were still combing through the rubble in an effort to determine the origin of the fire believed to have started on of the floors of the Bentinck Wing, one of the older parts of the century-old building.