Building, cars destroyed in San Fernando blaze
A FIRE which started in an abandoned Government building in San Fernando yesterday, spread to a car park where two vehicles were destroyed and three others damaged. People rushed to their vehicles amid smoke and heat, as raging flames engulfed the two cars. The fire started around 12.15 pm at an abandoned wooden building, near the compound of the National Centre for Disabled Persons on New Street. The centre is located at the back of RBTT’s High Street branch, but the bank was not threatened. Fire officers said that the building, which was occupied by several homeless people, was not fitted with electrical wiring so there was a suspicion that the fire was deliberately set. A police report stated that a woman was seen fleeing the building, shortly after the fire started. Firemen said quick action by physically challenged Ashley Goodridge, 49, who immediately alerted persons in nearby businessplaces, saved more cars from going up in flames. Goodridge, who worked at the centre, told Newsday he saw black, billowing smoke in the building. When he saw the cars burning in the carpark near the building, Goodridge said he shouted: "Fire! fire! danger!" The physically challenged man limped into RBTT and other businessplaces and shouted for people to move their vehicles. Unfortunately for Macwill Ltd employees Adrian Dick and Norace Parkers, when they rushed to the carpark, their Nissan Sentra cars were already in flames. Manager at the San Fernando branch of Unit Trust Corporation, Wendell Dottin’s car, was also badly damaged. Responding to the scene of the blaze were fire units from the San Fernando fire headquarters and Lady Hailes Avenue sub-station. Detectives from the nearby CID office and E-999 officers also visited the scene and conducted investigations.
Comments
"Building, cars destroyed in San Fernando blaze"