BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – QUICK reaction by members of the Basseterre Fire Department late yesterday afternoon (Aug. 22) prevented what might have been a disastrous episode in the lives of some residents in the Irish Town area.
After receiving report of a fire next to the Basseterre Public Market on the Bay Road at approximately 5:20 p.m., firemen rushed to the scene and within 30 minutes extinguished the angry flames that destroyed an abandoned building and threatened nearby homes.
According to a man known only as Jimmy, “The owner of the building is not around but Hesketh Benjamin wife does look it over. Nobody does live in it, so I does go there and sleep in the night. A lot of men does go in the building to smoke and I don’t know if they went there this afternoon. Maybe they was there smoking and that might have cause the building to burn down.”
The building was completely destroyed and the southern wall to an adjoining building was scorched.
SKNVibes spoke to a senior fire officer at the scene, who informed that were it not for a live electrical wire that was sparking, they would have extinguished the fire in less than 30 minutes. He explained that they had to wait until the Electricity Department “cut off the power supply” within the area before venturing into the building. However, while waiting, the firemen concentrated their efforts on the nearby buildings to ensure they too would not have been on fire.
He also informed that the cause of the fire could not have been determined at the time but investigations were ongoing.
