Fire, Fire Everywhere! Zericote Street Home Targeted
There were three other fires over the weekend. On Sunday night, a fire took out a small business on Zericote Street in the city. Sometime after seven-thirty p.m., smoke and later flames were spotted coming from the upper flat of the building. The building for the most part is in ruins, but the upper flat housed a barber shop that has been operating there for some twenty years; no one lived in the lower flat. News Five spoke with the landlord and the Fire Service today, but the exact cause of the fire is unknown at this time.
Voice of: Sherlett Young, Landlord
“My ma holla fi me and tell mi ‘Sherlett, smoke’ and so I come out on the veranda and my guts tell me hmm dah mussie the barbershop because the way the smoke mi di blow that dah mi the only thing I could think. But I tell she ih couldn’t be that because the owner fi it nuh deh home and I tell she I gwein go check. I di walk down the steps and lotta people di tell mi, ‘Sherlett, dah yuh place, dah yuh place.’ But I still say I gwein go check and so when I gone I si the place inna smoke.”
Benisford Matura
Andrea Polanco
“Now, what do you know about the cause? Is there any reason to believe at all to believe that this was a fire that was set intentionally?”
Voice of: Sherlett Young
“Well, fi one, I nuh know because the building was dilapidated and dah mi wah old building. But deh mi have numerous time people just come to ask me that they wah buy the land or they wah rent it and I tell dem I nuh wah do that because it mi old but I neva follow it up. Then next time I get a letter weh deh say dah from City Council but I know dah neva from them because dah mi on an old scrap of paper and inna pen – just things about the house need to come down and numerous times I mi di get deh stuff but I neva mi di pay it mind because it nuh come seal or so.”
Andrea Polanco
“So, until you get an official report from the Fire Department you will know exactly what happened?”
Voice of: Sherlett Young
“Yes, but I, my intuition and my guts feeling di tell me somebody set it butmaybe I could be wrong.”
Benisford Matura, Operations Officer, National Fire Services
“The fire was mostly concentrated on the north western side of the building and we got into operation and quickly knocked down that fire – it didn’t get away from us. I would say about fifty percent of the building got damaged. This fire was a barbershop – it is a two storey- building and the upper flat was occupied by a barber. Not much of his equipment was there because as a barber he takes his equipment with him, so he didn’t suffer much damage.”
Andrea Polanco
“Cause, again? Any idea?”
Benisford Matura
“We have investigators out there right now. As you see, a truck is not here so they are out there right now to investigate what caused this fire.”
