Fire Outbreak Destroys DDL-Owned Shipping Workshop; Spreads to Heritage Tailoring Business.

By Travis Chase | HGP Nightly News|

GEORGETOWN, GUYANA — A destructive early morning fire ripped through a heavily industrialized commercial block at the corner of Water and Lombard Streets on Sunday. The blaze completely gutted a primary corporate maintenance hub before spreading to a long-standing, family-operated tailoring enterprise and suit rental boutique, resulting in tens of millions of dollars in catastrophic structural and asset losses.

The emergency unfolded shortly after 2:00 AM, bringing federal fire investigators, crime scene technicians, and utility emergency crews to the scene to handle the intense situation.

A Midnight Gush of Fire Faced by Sleeping Families

The secondary building affected by the spreading fire housed the multi-generational establishment Herman and Sons Tailoring and Suit Rental. Third-generation businessman Giovanni Bholaisingh, widely known across commercial circles as “Richard,” operated the enterprise.

Bholaisingh was asleep in the upper residential quarters of the structure alongside his wife and five young children when an emergency phone call from a neighboring truck driver alerted him that the block was burning.

“I immediately jumped out of bed and ran downstairs to investigate the storefront,” Bholaisingh recounted during an exclusive interview with Nightly News. “The front was clear, but the moment I unlatched and opened the rear security door, a massive gush of fire came straight to my face. The heat was immense. I slammed the door, ran back up, grabbed my wife and kids, and told them to run out of the building immediately. We started pulling our vehicles out of the yard and throwing our specialized sewing machinery straight into the back of my truck.”

Explosions and Looting Concerns Haunt the Scene

The fast-moving fire originated next door within the two-story mechanical workshop operated by Demerara Shipping Company Limited, a logistics entity owned by manufacturing giant Demerara Distillers Limited (DDL).

Armon Narine, a DDL logistics employee, confirmed he received emergency dispatches around 2:30 AM indicating the workshop facility was fully engulfed.

First-responding tactical units faced significant dangers as several heavy bottles of propane gas and industrial welding cylinders—stored on-site for vehicle maintenance—triggered a sequence of loud explosions.

Compounding the crisis, Bholaisingh noted that large crowds quickly gathered behind the police cordons, creating an immediate security threat. “There were a lot of people out here,” the businessman stated cleanly. “If the police hadn’t established tight lines, they would have broken through the damaged walls and looted everything we had left.”

The Millions in Losses: Beyond Tailoring

While the Guyana Fire Service (GFS) managed to save the primary structure of the tailor shop from complete destruction, the financial fallout remains severe.

The fire systematically breached the third floor of the tailoring building, destroying specialized equipment and inventory. Most significantly, the flames targeted Bholaisingh’s secondary enterprise—a premier commercial mobile sound system rental business.

“My entire music system that I rent out for high-profile weddings and national events was completely burnt to ash,” Bholaisingh stated accessibly. “That audio system alone is valued at between $35 million and $40 million GYD. This shop is the only income I have left to feed my family; I can no longer depend on the music sector.”

The Cleanup and Regulatory Path to Reopening

By Sunday afternoon, teams of workers were engaged in major cleanup efforts, trying to salvage soaked fabrics and clear smoke damage. Water damage has created an additional bottleneck, as leaks from firefighting hoses soaked dozens of expensive rental suits.

Before the family can safely turn on the lights and resume operations, they must meet strict regulatory safety requirements:

Bholaisingh praised the tactical units on the ground, specifically thanking a female fire officer who helmed the primary hose lines for her bravery in preventing the fire from moving deeper into the lower flats.

Preliminary field reports from GFS inspectors suggest the electrical fire likely originated within the generator enclosure of the DDL shipping workshop before spreading through the shared rear boundary walls. This incident marks the third time the historical tailoring business has been impacted by an adjacent fire on the block.