BASSETERRE, St. Kitts - A section of the building that houses the West Basseterre Constituency Office of the St. Kitts-Nevis Labour Party (SKNLP), situated in the St. Johnston Village area, was significantly damaged by fire early yesterday morning.
In a statement, SKNLP’s Parliamentary Representative for West Basseterre (Constituency Three), Hon. Konris Maynard stated that at about 2:00 a.m. on Monday (Nov. 27), through the vigilance of surrounding neighbours, he was alerted to a fire at the eastern side of the West Basseterre Constituency Office.
He said the Fire and Rescue Department responded to the alarm shortly after 2:00 a.m. and quickly brought the fire under control.
“From an initial assessment, the eastern side of the Constituency Office, where the meeting hall is located, has suffered a significant amount of fire damage. Contents in that area have also been significantly damaged. The office section of the Constituency Office building has escaped any major damage and should be usable in the upcoming days for continued meetings with my constituents,” the Constituency Representative said.
Contacted for a comment on the fire, Deputy Chief Fire Officer Abdias Samuels told SKNVibes that they received a call at around 2:42 a.m. that there was a fire at the Constituency Office.
Upon arrival, fire officers saw fire emanating from the north-east section of the building and they quickly sprang into action.
“Basically, the investigation is ongoing by us, along with the police who were present at the scene as well. There is no conclusive evidence at the moment, however, because electricity was one of the sources present at the structure. It is one of the means that we are looking at,” he stated.
Samuel pointed to some of what were damaged based on initial investigations.
“In the north-east section, there was a window there that was completely burnt. The roof above that particular section was scorched by the fire. There were two ACs that in the same eastern side that were destroyed by the fire. There were also some T-shirts and paraphernalia – banners, stickers and little things – also destroyed by the fire.”
According to Maynard, the police indicated that an investigation into the cause of the fire is ongoing and a report would be made known as soon as possible.
“Thanks be to God that there were no injuries to anyone. I would like to thank the surrounding neighbours for their vigilance in alerting the Fire Department and myself of the fire, thus averting what could have been the total destruction of the Constituency Office building. I would also like to thank the Fire and Rescue Department for their quick response that led to the control of the flames in a very short period of time,” Maynard said.
The Parliamentary Representative assured constituents that everything would be done so that the use of the meeting hall of the building could resume as soon as possible.
