BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – QUICK response by members of the Basseterre Fire Department yesterday morning (Feb. 2) prevented what could have been a disastrous episode in the lives of many Irishtown residents.
At approximately 10:59 yesterday morning, some five minutes after receiving a report of fire in Irishtown, a unit from the Basseterre Fire Department arrived at Miss Janet Alley and successfully extinguished a fire that destroyed an abandoned building and had threatened the safety of many others.
According to a male resident, he was in his home relaxing when the smell of smoke aroused his curiosity.
“While relaxing in the comfort of my home, I smelled smoke and decided to enquire what had caused it. I then looked through one of the windows on the western side and saw that the abandoned building next to my home was on fire. That old building was very close to another neighbour’s home and the fire threatening to destroy it.
“Knowing that my neighbour was an aged woman and she takes care of her little granddaughter, I immediately ran out the house and entered the Alley calling out her name because I believed she was asleep. I shouted fire, fire, but did not get a response from her; so I climbed the stairway, banged on her door while shouting for her to get out of the house. However, the heat coming from the burning building was too intense and I retreated to the Alley,” the neighbour said.
He further stated that while seeking another way in alerting the two occupants of the home, which was at the time under threat, another neighbour succeeded in getting the woman and her granddaughter to safety from the other side of the building.
Wilmoth Johnson, son of the septuagenarian and father of the two-year-old child, said he was at work when he got a message stating that his mother’s home was on fire.
“This morning when I was leaving for work I saw two guys in the abandoned building smoking their dope. While at work somebody give me a call and tell me that my mother’s house on fire, so I immediately thought that it must have happened because of the two guys who I saw smoking. I left work a very worried man because I know my mother and my daughter were in the house. However, when I got there somebody told me that a fireman rescued my mom and my daughter by taking them out through the window,” Johnson said.
This media house also learned that Johnson’s mother dreamt on the night before that her house was on fire and, early yesterday morning, she untied a canine pet that was usually chained close to the abandoned building.
On arrival at the scene, SKNVibes found that the abandoned building was totally destroyed and the outer southern wall of Johnson’s mother’s house was scorched. This media house also observed firefighters dousing the surrounding buildings with water in an attempt to prevent them from igniting. They were successful in their bid and many onlookers commended them for a job well-done.
When asked what had been the source of the fire, a senior fire officer said it was unknown at the time but investigations are ongoing. However, residents in the area confirmed that some addicts had been using the building to smoke drugs, as well as many schoolboys.
