Arson suspected in Albert Street fire

As
the National Fire Service continued their investigation into the New Year’s
Eve conflagration on West Street, the very next night they were once again
called out, this time to the corner of King and Albert Streets. Shortly
after seven, someone in the neighborhood observed smoke coming from the
V.J. Max Store. Although the fire service did arrive shortly, it took
a while for them to get into the three storey concrete building to locate
the source of the fire. The blaze, which was concentrated in one area
inside the store, was quickly extinguished, but Fire Chief Baizar says
because of where the fire was located, they strongly suspect the blaze
may have been deliberately set.

Henry Baizar, Fire Chief

“After we cut off the bars and entered the building and got the fire out we closed up the building that night and the police held the keys. The following morning we went there to look, to try and establish what exactly happened. We ruled out electricity completely because where the fuse box is and the other outlets, they were not even signs of burn, so it is definitely not an electrical fire. We continue to do our investigation and we may come up with an answer in the next day or two.”

Q: “So you all expect arson?”

Henry Baizar

“From what we see, from what we saw and the area where the fire started, I would go as far and say someone started the fire but who is left to be proven.”

The building, which was insured for six hundred thousand dollars, is owned by Leopoldo Silva of Venus Photos and Records but was rented to Indian businessman Vijay Kumar Khataani. Silva said that he had a large amount of goods warehoused on the second floor which were destroyed by smoke and water and were not insured. The contents of Khataani’s store were insured with Atlantic Insurance Company.