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| A crowd gathered infront of the Treasury Building hours after the fire |
Basseterre, St. Kitts (May 19, 2006): The blaring sound of fire engines disturbed the early hours as a report to the Police Department indicated black smoke spewing from the Treasury Department on Friday.
Acting Fire Chief Hester Rawlins detailed the incident which occurred at approximately 12:24 a.m. to SKNIS.
'On arrival at the Treasury Building, they (fire officers) discovered that smoke was coming from the general area of the Treasury section," he revealed.
As a result the Fire and Rescue Services broke a southern window to gain entry. Having entered they used water to (extinguish) the fire & on the ground floor of the Treasury.
Chief Rawlins explained that the fire caused serious damage to the contents on that level of the building which also houses the Planning Unit on the second floor and the Ministry of Finance on the top floor.
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| Acting Fire Chief Hester Rawlins |
"When the fire was extinguished it was discovered that the entire section of the western portion of the Treasury Department was extensively damaged. The second and third floor of the building was smoke logged," Rawlins disclosed. A number of computers, cubicles, filing cabinets and refrigerator were completely destroyed.
The fire chief added that the fire did not appear to affect the structural integrity of the concrete building but added that engineers from the Public Works Department (PWD) will conduct a proper assessment at a later date. The Police are conducting investigations into the matter.
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| Police Officer talks to residents in front of Treasury. |
