Latest update April 24th, 2024 12:59 AM
Nov 29, 2017 News
– GPL says currently not in position to discuss compensation
A process of investigation to officially determine the cause of a fire that destroyed a house at Lot 31 La Jalousie Estate, West Coast Demerara, is still ongoing by the Guyana Fire Service [GFS]. The fire last Sunday morning has left a family of five homeless and counting their losses, believed to be in excess of $30 million.
Fire Chief Marlon Gentle, in an invited comment to this publication, said, “Basically the slant we are getting from the eyewitnesses, which we don’t have any reason to disapprove or disclaim, is that the fire was electrical in origin.”
Although the Fire Service has taken reports from the several eyewitnesses, who insisted that the house was destroyed after a transformer sparked causing a fire to run along the electrical fire leading to it, Gentle emphasised that there is still need for a thorough investigation.
“We don’t believe all of these people can concoct a story like that, but we still have to go through the phases,” said Gentle, as he disclosed that even in its investigation, the GFS will require assistance from persons with electrical expertise.
“We are not the technical people when it comes to electricity – that is not our area of competence. We have to get the GPL [Guyana Power and Light Incorporated] and electrical people to work with us and give us a finding…but we are almost certain that what the people are saying is credible.”
Members of the family of the now destroyed home and several residents of the La Jalousie Estate community said that GPL, over a period of months, had failed to take remedial action after they made calls to report that an electrical transformer, near the now destroyed home, was constantly sparking and leaking a fuel-like substance. In fact the residents told this publication that the sparking, complemented by the substance, at times even caused small fires which fell to the base of the utility pole with the transformer.
A few residents directed this publication to the area near the base of the transformer which was so scorched that it was devoid of grass.
“Nuff nights we cyan sleep in peace, because de thing [fire] ah fall and bun deh,” several residents related. The residents said that on the many occasions they called to report the situation to GPL, they were instead told to call the fire service. They often had to resort to extinguishing the fires themselves.
Residents said that the latest fire, which started around 10:00 hours on Sunday, was preceded by a bout of sparking of the wires near the transformer.
According to Fire Chief Gentle, the investigation in progress will seek to ascertain whether it was a combination of factors that resulted in the fire. Gentle pointed out that although the sparking transformer might have created the fire, the resulting conflagration at the house could also be due to poor electrical installation.
GPL’s Public Relations Officer, Ms. Shevion Sears-Murray, told Kaieteur News that despite the claims of residents, GPL is currently not in a position to accept culpability. She said that the company will await a report from the GFS, which is in fact the normal procedure in such matters.
“If we are found culpable, yes, we will be expected to compensate, but most stories in the past, where people say GPL is to be blamed, when the report comes from the Guyana Fire Service it is contrary,” Sears-Murray said.
When asked to what extent GPL will compensate if it is found liable, Sears-Murray said, “I can’t comment on that, because I am not the authority on that…”
She however noted that once an investigation is completed by the Fire Service, GPL will conduct an investigation of its own. This, she said, will include determining whether calls were indeed made by residents to report an alleged fault in the transformer.
“We have a procedure…if someone calls in to report something we give them a reference number. For any complaint that is lodged, the complainant is given a reference number, so there must be evidence of somebody making such a complaint. We will have to check our log to find out if anybody did take the complaint[s] and didn’t give them [residents] a reference number or whatever might be the case.”
Residing at the house, prior to its destruction, were Dooknauth Kalicharan called ‘Vicky’, his wife, Radika Prem called ‘Sandy’, their two young children – Sachit [seven] and Ashanna [four] – and Prem’s mother, Parbattie Baldeo called ‘Daro’. They are currently being accommodated by family members, and are hopeful that GPL will afford them some form of compensation since the destroyed house was not insured.
However, a family which was displaced just over one year ago because of a fire which was ruled electrical in origin, is still awaiting compensation from GPL.
The family in question resided at Lot 4 Cemetery Road, Triumph, East Coast Demerara. In that case too, eyewitnesses claimed that they saw an electrical wire sparking before a fire erupted and engulfed the house.
Residing at the house was Assistant Superintendent of Police Ramesh Singh, his wife, Zabida Jaikarran and other family members, including Tulsie Jaikarran, who said he made an official complaint to GPL the same day of the fire.
According to Tulsie Jaikarran, “on to this day, it has been a year and a month now, and we have gotten nothing. They said they would look into it and nothing has come out of it. We lost everything in our home…there were eyewitnesses who saw how the fire started from the post, run along the wire and come in the house. The firemen took statement about that and still we got nothing,” a still upset Tulsie Jaikarran related to this publication. He too is optimistic that GPL will compensate his family for their substantial loss.
Commenting on such dilemmas was Secretary to the Public Utilities Commission [PUC], Mr. Vidiahar Persaud. In an invited comment to this publication, he too emphasised the importance
of persons receiving a reference number when they lodge complaints with GPL.
In the case where no reference number is forthcoming, Persaud said that at least a name [of the GPL official taking the report] and the number called should be documented by the complainant. He also stressed that it is important for persons to file a complaint “briskly and early”, even in the case of damaged appliances, so that the power company can investigate the claims. He noted that the outcome of claims, which suggest that fires or damage to appliances were the fault of the GPL, will be dependent on the findings of the Fire Service or a reputable electrician.
Although a number of the La Jalousie Estate residents claimed that they received no reference number when they made their complaints, they insisted that their phone records can show the multiple times that they called to file their complaints. They were also able to provide this publication with the number [264-2668] that they called repeatedly over the months.
In fact the residents said that up to Monday they were forced to call the very GPL number, since the transformer was again sparking, causing them to fear that another fire could erupt. A resident told this publication that the GPL workers turned up shortly after and removed the electrical wire attached to the transformer.
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