Alert cleaner helps save teacher, students from burning city school

Jul 21, 2022 News

By Renay Sambach

Scenes of the fire at the St. George’s High School

Kaieteur News – A teacher and six students were able to escape unharmed from the St. George’s High School on Wednesday before it was completely engulfed in flames thanks to an alert cleaner who noticed smoke coming from a classroom and raised an alarm.

When Kaieteur News arrived at the scene on Wednesday, the wooden top-half of the school was already engulfed in flames – as members of the Guyana Fire Service (GFS) were working expeditiously to contain the blaze.

Minister of Education, Priya Manickchand [left] and Miss Mattis at the scene of the fire

Speaking with reporters on the scene of the fire, the teacher, Miss Mattis (only name provided), related how she and her students were able to escape unharmed from the building, which is situated in the heart of the city behind the St. George’s Cathedral.

She first disclosed, “I was doing reading with them, because reading is a problem with the transition class and so I was doing some extra reading session with them even though school has closed…”

The teacher added, “We were resuming the second half of the day’s reading programme and then I got a call from the cleaner that there is smoke in a room…”

According to her, the smoke was emitting from the Social Studies Head of Department room sometime after 13:00hrs.

She stated that after the cleaner informed her of the smoke, “I told everybody immediately to grab everything and let’s get out of the building and so we did just that. I didn’t remember where my key was because my vehicle was in the compound but thank God, eventually I was able to find it in a bag because I was so confused.”

Moreover, as members of the GFS were working to contain the fire, Minister of Education, Priya Manickchand, and Minister of Home Affairs, Robeson Benn arrived on the scene.

During an interview with reporters at the scene, Minister Manickchand said that as a result of the fire, hundreds of students are now displaced. She noted that while space is a major issue, particularly in Georgetown, her ministry will have to find accommodation for the now displaced 421 students.

“This is a secondary school in the middle of Georgetown and it is going to affect a large number of persons. It is extremely sad and it is very hard to watch this. We have to make sure we cater for these children and quickly,” the minister added.

In a statement, the GFS noted that around 13:25hrs, the GFS received a call about a fire at the St. George’s High School.

As such, six water tenders from the Central, Alberttown, Campbellville and West Ruimveldt fire stations were dispatched to the location.

According to the statement, the school was destroyed, with only a few items being saved. Notably, investigations are ongoing by the Fire Prevention Department to ascertain the cause of the fire.

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