Fire destroys health inspector’s home

THE newly-renovated and refurbished two-storey home of San Fernando City Corporation Chief Health Inspector Selwyn Waterman was partially destroyed by fire yesterday. The fire, which occurred at 2 pm on Hart Street, left Waterman and his family of five homeless. Waterman was at his office in the City Corporation’s building on Harris Promenade at the time of the blaze. Yesterday, a distraught Waterman told Newsday that he received a telephone call around 2:10 pm informing him that his home was on fire. He said he arrived to see the living room of the house engulfed in flames.

“It is really, really hard for us, because only recently the house was renovated and my sister bought new furniture for the house,” Waterman said. Waterman’s two elder bothers and three sisters, who are also part owners of the house, were also at their workplace at the time of the fire. Waterman told Newsday that fire officers visiting the scene told him that the fire started at the ground floor of the house. The fire destroyed the living room, furniture and furnishings. The three-bedrooms were intact. Yesterday, Waterman heaped praises on the firefighters who responded to the fire call promptly and succeeded in preventing the house from being gutted. Waterman said, “The quick and prompt response from fire officers attached to the King’s Wharf Substation was responsible for the house not being completely destroyed by the blaze.” The Corporation’s Chief Executive Officer Marlene Coudray and Councillor Kazim Hosein visited the scene. The cause of the fire and estimate of the damage have not yet been determined.