Fire destroys Penal restaurant

A FAULTY air-condition unit is believed to have caused a million-dollar fire which destroyed a house and restaurant in Penal during the mid-afternoon yesterday. In just over one hour, the blaze completely gutted the two-storey concrete and wooden building which housed Flower City Restaurant at Winter Street, off Clarke Road Junction. The fire came just three weeks after renovations had been done to the building which was said to have been more than 50 years old. According to initial reports from investigating fire and police officers, the fire was caused by an electrical problem with an air-condition unit in an apartment located upstairs the restaurant.

Residents of the building, Su Wei Pan, his wife Cao Miao Hong, and their two children Cedwah Su, seven, and two-year-old Judy, looked on sadly as fire-fighters battled unsuccesfully to control the blaze. The family, who had operated the restaurant for the last ten years, was visiting relatives in Port-of-Spain when they were told their home and businessplace was ablaze. An unknown amount of cash which had been saved over the years was reduced to ashes. The restaurants 14 employees are now on the breadline. The fire began around 2.30 pm in the upstairs portion of the building while three employees were carrying out repairs to the ceiling and wall downstairs.

As the fire spread quickly through the building, the workers ran to safety. Fire appliances from San Fernando and Siparia responded to the scene within half an hour. However, relatives of the family occupying the building complained that firefighters took too long to respond. “The roof had already collapsed when the fire truck came with only three fire-fighters. They couldn’t do anything to save the building,” a relative told Newsday. Visiting the scene yesterday were ADFO Woods, Ag FSO Ramchan Singh and other fire officers, as well as Ag Inspector Adhar, Sgt Palloo and other police officers of the Penal Police Station.