Fire destroys upper floor of Lower Bay Street building

The upper storey of a building owned by the Weekes family of Kingstown was completely destroyed by fire last weekend.{{more}}

According to Corporal Paul Smart of the Fire Department of the Royal St Vincent and the Grenadines Police Force, the fire was reported around 9:50 pm on Sunday, April 1, 2012.

Smart told SEARCHLIGHT that after arriving on site, it took fire-fighters about one hour to douse the flames which engulfed the Lower Bay Street building.

When the building was checked thereafter, all the contents of the upper storey had been destroyed, Smart said.

The building is managed by Elizabeth Weekes and her son Kevin Weekes, who are both out of state.

SEARCHLIGHT spoke with Ava John, who was left in charge of the building.

She said that on the upper storey, there were seven apartments which are usually rented to persons, usually from the Grenadines. She added that the apartments included basic amenities such as beds, appliances and televisions. Nothing on the upper floor was salvaged from the fire.

Smart added, however, that the fire did not spread to the lower floor, or any surrounding building. Choice Meats, a meat market housed on the ground floor, did not suffer fire damage, but was affected by the water used to douse the flames on the upper floor of the building.

Investigations are ongoing to ascertain the cause of the fire.