A mid-morning fire ripped through the living quarters for the Guyana Prison Service this morning in Kingston, completely gutting the wooden building.

A cause of the fire is still to be determined, but a total of 30 prison officers who stayed at the property have been affected. Most of the prison officers are from outside of Georgetown, but worked at the Lusignan and Georgetown prisons.

It was just after 9 o’clock this morning that an alarm was raised when smoke was seen billowing from the building. Within minutes, the entire Parade Street building was engulfed in flames, forcing nearby schools to end classes early and evacuate the students. There are reports that no one was at the building at the time of the blaze.

Director of Prisons, Nicklon Elliot told reporters that arrangements were being made to accommodate the affected Prison Officers.

He said the Fire Service is still probing the cause of the fire. He said the Prison Service will be moving to ensure there are proper fire prevention systems at all of its facilities.

Home Affairs Minister, Robeson Benn, visited the scene of the fire, but did not offer any comment to reporters.

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