Crib fire levels Sacred Heart church, school
-fire service criticised over response
By Miranda La Rose
Stabroek News
December 28, 2004
The shells of the Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church, one of the two buildings that housed the Sacred Heart Primary (at right), and the Sacred Heart Presbytery/Parish Hall (at left) as the Christmas morning fire ravaged the wooden historic buildings. (Pho
A fire which spread rapidly from a Nativity Scene crib demolished the historic 143-year-old Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church on Main Street, the Sacred Heart Primary School and two other buildings on Christmas morning.
The pitch pine Sacred Heart Church was opened in December 1861 in time for the Christmas festivities that year at the request of the Portuguese community.
While Stabroek News was unable to contact the head of the Roman Catholic diocese in Guyana, Bishop Francis Alleyne, parishioners were already talking yesterday about rebuilding the church and the Sacred Heart Charismatic Prayer Com-munity were due to meet at the site of the burnt-out institution last evening.
The other buildings levelled were the Kirpalani Bond and a customs brokerage to the north of the Sacred Heart Primary School. Some 20 vehicles in the King Solomon Shipping premises compound to the south of the school were also wiped out and the building which houses King Solomon Shipping Enter- prises Ltd to the south of the church was scorched.
The Grace Kennedy Remittance Services building, which accommodates Univer-sal Airlines and other businesses to the north of the church, was also scorched.
Headmistress of the Sacred Heart Primary School, Yonette Johnson (second from right) in conversation with President Bharrat Jagdeo (second from left) while the fire gutted the Sacred Heart Church and the school buildings, which she headed. With them are (
The Sacred Heart Primary School, the city's biggest and one of its most prestigious, which was housed in two separate buildings, was completely gutted.
The mid-morning fire left hundreds of millions of dollars in damage with historical and current records of both the church and the schools obliterated by the flames. Nothing was saved from the church or the school.
Sacred Heart Parish priest, Fr Lourduraj Arokiasamy, told reporters that the fire started in the crib that was recreated to stage the scene of the birth of Jesus Christ in the north-eastern end of the church in the vicinity of the St Joseph's altar.
Fr Lourduraj who was conducting the Christmas morning mass at the time said that the electrical bulbs in the crib had apparently sparked fire which caught onto combustible material in the crib. Within minutes he said that the entire building and the presbytery were gutted.
The Jesuit priest, who hails from southern India, lost his passport with visas and all his personal belonging. He was left with only the vestments he was wearing at the time.
The priest said the congregation was singing the third stanza of the closing hymn when from the side of his eyes he saw the fire in the crib. That was around 8:50 am, and he immediately alerted the congregation of about 60 or 65 persons. The congregation consisted mainly of elderly persons.
He immediately ran to the nearby presbytery to call the Guyana Fire Service but parishioners informed him that they had already called the fire service on their cellular telephones. He said that the fire service arrived around 10 to 12 minutes later but it took them another ten to 15 minutes after they had arrived to get water through their hoses and onto the building which was already completely gutted.
He said that the previous night during the midnight mass there appeared to have been power surges and there had been some sparking so all the lights were turned off except for those on the main altar. He said that someone would have turned on the lights in the crib for the morning mass.
He was grateful that the fire did not occur during the midnight mass when the church was crowded with both children and adults. The children had staged a pageant prior to the mass.
Commenting on a possible rebuilding he said, "God will show us the way. Our faith is strong and we would not be discouraged. It is truly ironic that the fire occurred on Christmas Day. Maybe, God has a message for us and is testing us through these adversities."
The architectural design for the Sacred Heart Church was done by renowned Italian architect Cesar Castellani, who was also a Jesuit brother, while the church's bells with musical chimes known to those who work or live in the area were installed for the Christmas of 1905 by Bishop Galton.
Parishioner and leader of the Sacred Heart Charismatic Prayer group, Compton Young told Stabroek News that there was a fire extinguisher in the church building but it was in the church's sacristy, which is behind the main altar. He was not at church at the time but said from reports the fire spread so rapidly that no one was able to get it.
Parishioner Maria James, who was one of several parishioners who were critical of the performance of the Guyana Fire Service said that as soon as the fire was detected her husband Michael, a Deacon in the Catholic Church, ran outside of the church to try to get some water while she alerted the fire service on her cellular phone. She said the fire "was very small and it was incredible at the speed at which it spread. The fire service came 15 minutes after and by that time they could do nothing to save the building."
She said that when the fire service arrived the firemen took some 20 minutes to get water onto the burning building. She felt that the water tenders had no water but the Fire Chief, Lance David told Stabroek News otherwise.
While he said he was reserving his comments he said that the fire service responded as soon as they got the information.
While the firemen and volunteers worked many people wept openly for the church where they worshipped or for the school they attended or where they worked.
One of Stabroek News' photographers who was in the vicinity of the Bourda Market at the time and spotted the smoke in the distance said he sped to the scene and he arrived there before the fire service. He took photos of the scene as the flames devoured the walls of the church and before the adjoining presbytery was gutted. The flames also blotted out the vision of the burning Sacred Heart School as well.
Asked to comment on the time the fire service took to respond, David said he would reserve his comments but added that the tenders had water.
By the time this reporter arrived on the scene flames were licking at the two buildings which housed the Sacred Heart School located behind the church. It appeared as though the intensity of the heat of the burning church building constrained the firemen and the many volunteers from gaining access to the school buildings.
They were engulfed within minutes and levelled as quickly with virtually no fight.
However, the firemen kept dousing the nearby building which houses Universal Airlines and Grace Kennedy Remittance Services. They saved the main structure but the building behind, which housed the customs brokerage of one Mr Blades, and the Kirpalani Bond were burnt down.
These buildings were owned by SS De Freitas Ltd and the only representative of the company on the scene at the time, Andrea De Freitas-Castro told Stabroek News she could not put a value to the losses except that there were millions of dollars in damage.
K. Kirpalani, who watched on helplessly as the bond was gutted told Stabroek News that the stocks were valued at around US$250,000 comprised mainly of electrical appliances and toys.
While the fire raged workers from the Universal Airlines office hurriedly removed a number of items including computers.
President Bharrat Jagdeo, Opposition Leader Robert Corbin and Minister of Tourism, Industry and Commerce Manzoor Nadir were among the many people who gathered downtown at the scene of the fire.
In a message issued by the Government Information Agency, the President expressed sadness at the loss of the church and commiserated with the congregation and the Catholic community.
Among some of the well-known priests who served in recent years were Fr Aloysius Church, Fr Joshi, Fr Malcolm Rodrigues, Fr Andrew Morrison, Fr De Rouche, Fr Maitland and Fr Goodwin.
Fr Church told Stabroek News that million of dollars had been spent in renovating the church building over the past two years.
The entire roof and floors had been replaced.
The adjoining presbytery also housed the parish hall where the Narcotics Anony-mous group met each week. At the same venue the church had run a daily school-feeding programme in conjunction with the Beacon Foundation and the school.
In recent years, George-town has been ripped by several devastating fires. Last December the Muneshwer's Building on Water Street was gutted.
Just a month earlier, the Auto Supplies building on Hadfield Street and Royal Castle were burnt to the ground.
The Park Hotel on Main Street and Kissoon's on Robb Street were also destroyed by fire in recent times.