On Monday evening, residents sprung into action when alerted of a fire, with buckets & hoses, all in an effort to get under control, the raging fire that was swiftly spreading, eventually completely destroying three dwelling houses and partly destroying three others.
At the same time, two brothers at Mardigras, St. David’s were mourning the complete destruction of their houses, also by fire.
The Grenada Informer spoke to Anthonio Charles in whose house the St. Mark’s fire allegedly started. He recalled that he was sitting by the playing field when he was alerted by his friend that his house was on fire, he rushed in the direction of his home, where according to him, he discovered that half of it was already destroyed.
The very distraught young man shared that upon his arrival, and seeing the blazing fire, he became very emotional he started running towards the Victoria Police Station to report the incident.
Being the lone occupant in the house, Charles recalled that he doesn’t know what could have started the fire, as all of the electrical appliances were switched off and his gas cylinder was turned off. He cannot tell what happened and was unable to save any of his belongings.
NaDMA was present at the scene, the following morning. Our news reporter spoke to Deputy Disaster Coordinator, Tonya Hyacinth who stated that NaDMA’s appearance on the ground was mainly to view, conduct their recordings and assess the damages and to also lend their support in whatever way they can to the affected families.
One eyewitness sharing her experience with this paper, said she was sitting by the nearby shop when suddenly she heard one of the young men down the street shouting ‘fire, fire’, and when she looked, she saw one of the houses was burning, which was located right next to her family home.
She shared that she called out to her sister and her husband who were inside of the house, to get out and that while they were coming out, she, overcome with fright and confusion started running back inside the house, which she indicated was one of the houses that were partly destroyed, the news quickly spread throughout the community, residents came out with buckets and hoses in an effort to put out the raging fire.
Glenroy Corian, Superintendent of Police in charge of the Fire Department, on a visit to the site said that Victoria Police Station received a call of the fire and sourced back up assistance from the Sauteurs and Gouyave fire departments.
According to Supt. Corian, it could be clearly seen that it could have been worse for the surrounding residents, adding that the wooden structures are highly flammable and commended his men and the assistance of the community members for a job well done. He described the incident as a sad situation with six families affected.
He noted that an investigation was ongoing into the cause of the fire. The origin of the fire was clearly identified by the officers.
Senator Quinc Britton of St. Mark, was also at the site of the fire and related that he had left Victoria for his home mere minutes before and upon arriving home received a call of the fire. He noted that his natural instincts kicked in, he grabbed his water boots, changed clothes, headed back down the road and immediately sprung into action.
Britton expressed high commendations to the surrounding residents for a job well done coming out in their numbers and joining forces to assist in trying to get the blaze under control. He stated that had it not been for their immediate action, the situation could have been worse.
Britton further noted that one of the houses that were partly destroyed was where he resided during his childhood upbringing before moving to his current home at Diamond. He went on that a lot can be done to mitigate occurrences of such nature. For instance, Britton recalled, when he was growing up in Victoria as a child, there used to be fire hydrants that placed at specific locations to access water and over the years they used to be properly serviced by the RGPF but have since been abandoned for whatever reason.
This, he indicated is something that he will engage with the RGPF as well as NAWASA to help mitigate against any further such occurrences and he is of the view that the only time the issue of a fire hydrant comes up is whenever there is a fire. He added, we cannot wait until something happens but must become more proactive.
In the St. David’s tragedy, two brothers were thrown into distress as their houses were completely destroyed by fire on Monday night.
According to Isaiah Paul, he was coming from the river when he got a call from his partner saying “Boy your brother house burning down you know, and it look as though the fire branching unto yours, so I turn and tell him boy you joking that man, he said boy I joking? So, I will call you and tell you something so”?
He further explained that upon his arrival to his home, he saw the both houses ‘red ‘and was told someone had already alerted the fire department but by the time they arrived on the scene of the fire, the houses were already burnt to ashes.
According to him, all of his savings that he kept at the house to build his new house, perished, he noted that presently he doesn’t know where to start and he is just holding his faith in the Creator.
The second homeowner, Dylan Paul who witnessed the fire, recalled that the fire had started from up in the roof, with pieces of particles from the louvers pitching out from the room. He went on the explained that he was so distraught, the only thing he did was to drop to the ground in disbelief, he then grabbed his young daughter and took her to safety by the neighbours and watched the house burn, adding that he was so confused, he didn’t have time to call his brother about the fire.
Sergeant of police in the Fire Department; Adrian Panchoo said that investigations are continuing in determining the cause of the fire, noting that the main challenge at Mardigras was that of access. He said that when the crew got up to Mardigras, they were unable to fully access the scene, eventually after conducting an assessment they used five lengths of hose to reach the fire, however, at that point, both houses were fully engulfed and by the time they extinguished the fire, both structures were completely destroyed.
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