Stabroek News
April 10, 2001

Fire reportedly set by arsonists ripped through the heart of the city consuming many businesses and leaving hundreds of millions of dollars in damage and many without jobs.

The fire in the late afternoon followed a tense day in the city during which police clashed with protesters outside of the Office of the President. Later in the afternoon, a woman was shot dead in Robb Street in the vicinity of the PPP/Civic's Headquarters after a crowd had gathered there and the police say they are investigating this incident. (See other stories in this issue.)

The blaze which began at around 5:00 pm at the Camp and Robb street premises of Kissoon's Furniture City, consumed the old colonial style wooden building like a box of matches moving west along Robb street and diagonally over to Regent street where several stores were obliterated by the flames. Eight buildings were completely destroyed and another three damaged.

Kissoon's building also housed Bossie's International and RJ's Pharmacy. Three hours later, the fire was brought under control but with half the block completely gutted.

A stiff north-easterly breeze aided the fire on its destructive path as it quickly ignited surrounding premises on Robb Street including Archie's Electrical, and Garden Chinese Restaurant. The latter building also houses Tau-Am's Associates Ltd at the bottom which suffered damage at the back.

Four dogs belonging to the owner of Archie's were also burnt to death. This businessman lived above the store with his family.

On Regent Street, several stores were destroyed by the rampaging fire including Global Enterprises, Sooksons Garment Factory which housed the office of the Madagabar Resort, a cambio and factory; Anand's Discount Store, Lotus Restaurant, Kirpalani's, and the Guyana Import & Export (GIMPEX) building, which housed several offices including that of the Guyana Agricultural & General Workers Union (GAWU), the Guyana Rice Producers Association, Alicia's Wholesale & Retail Store and Daswaney's.

The fire also threatened the National Bank of Industry and Commerce branch at the corner of Camp and Regent streets and nearby Bhena's Footwear on its right.

Manager, Corporate Operations of the bank, Ray Ramlall, and the owner of Bhena's, Glen Lall, mounted the roof of the bank to help fight the fire probably saving the two buildings - which are made of concrete - from further damage.

Firemen who arrived on the scene some twenty minutes after the start of the blaze, began training their hoses at the Camp Street end of the burning Kissoon's building as the flames spread westwards.

Low water pressure coupled with inadequate equipment including broken hoses slowed the work of the fire brigade which valiantly attempted to quell the raging flames which were by now threatening the Regent Street stores.

Firemen who by now were on the scene in full force, quickly attempted to confront the fire from several fronts including Regent and Robb streets. However, one fireman was injured when a hose broke loose and the nozzle hit him on the eye on Regent Street. He was treated at the Georgetown Hospital and sent away.

Several residents on Robb Street as a precautionary measure, removed their belongings to the safety of the main road where they remained for several hours.

As night fell firemen continued to battle the blaze. Police ranks set up barricades at several intersections leading to the central point of the fire.

Sporadic gunshot fire was also used to quell an unruly crowd on Wellington Street who it was said attempted to set fire to the nearby Strand cinema. Crowd control, however, was fairly good at Camp and Church streets, Robb and Alexander and at Charlotte and Camp Streets.

The cause of the fire is still under investigation but Stabroek News was told by an eyewitness that the fire was started by two young men. It was learnt that the two men broke the showcase of the Kissoon's store and threw burning barrels into a section which had some wicker chairs. This was just about half an hour after the store was closed for the day.

As the fire burnt through the Kissoon's building police officers along with public-spirited citizens were seen breaking windows of vehicles parked on Regent Street in an effort to move them out of danger's way.

And even as the fire raged and besieged more buildings so did a large crowd on Robb Street which was seen racing down the thoroughfare armed with pieces of woods and other items shouting "more fire." For about ten minutes the crowd was in total control as the few police officers present were unable to restore order.

When those officers received back up help from the Target Special Squad shots were fired and the crowd dispersed and regrouped in several parts of the city.

Some persons in the crowd dashed to an empty lot adjacent to Freedom House but were met with shots fired from the building.

The shots were apparently fired by someone standing on a landing at the back of Freedom House.

Upon hearing the gunshots, surprised policemen looked up and began gesticulating at the persons on the landing who beat a hasty retreat when attention was drawn to them.

Hemraj Kissoon, Managing Director of Kissoon's Furniture City, last night said he did not know how the fire originated and he was not in a position to quantify his losses. He also could not say how much the building was insured for.

Just last year the Kissoon Group of Companies suffered great losses after a fire destroyed the Park Hotel on Main Street.

Komal Chand, President of GAWU last evening said he is not certain whether the fire which razed the GIMPEX building which houses his union's office originated from the Kissoon's building.

Chand said that while he would not be able to quantify the union's loss at this point in time, it has lost all of its computers, invaluable documents for its credit union and the union as well as its collective bargaining agreements. He said a lot of historical documents and photographs about the union's history and relationships have been destroyed.

Describing the loss as very "upsetting", Chand said 40 persons from the union headquarters would be dislocated as a result of this fire and he is not sure where the union will function from today. He was disgusted at the method of protest employed in the city yesterday which he said would result in losses to the economy.