Another fire of unknown origin, another group of victims with nowhere to turn

Denroy Pierre sat dejected in an office at the Saint Lucia Fire Service. Last Thursday he had witnessed his Wilton’s Yard home, along with those of his closest friends, being swallowed by flames. One week later, on April 25 at around 10 am, he was trying to answer the questions put to him by Owen Cazaubon, the sub-officer responsible for investigations relating to the devastating fire. Understandably hesitant after his time with the fireman, Pierre nevertheless agreed to revisit, for my purposes, the night he lost his home.  

“I’m just another fire victim,” he said. “I lost all of my things and I’m just trying to see if I can get some assistance to rebuild. My house got completely destroyed. Nothing was saved, nothing at all; not even my underwear, not anything. Even my three dogs perished in the fire. I now live on a mattress with two bits of galvanize over my head.”

Nothing ever happens in Saint Lucia without a bit of politics attached. Rumours abound of Labour Minister Stephenson King’s plans to rebuild the lost homes. Attempts to validate them proved futile. However, I can report that building materials have already been placed at the site of the fire. Then there was Peter Lansiquot, who has declared himself a possible Labour Party candidate in the next elections, with his eye on the Castries Central seat. He stood on the blackened ground where a home once stood and announced the establishment of a People’s Distress Fund to replace the distress fund previously set up during Dr. Kenny Anthony’s tenure as prime minister.

Lansiquot boasted that “within one month” his PDF should already have over $100,000. The declaration was accompanied by a verbal assault on Allen Chastanet’s administration: “The banning [sic] of the distress fund by this government is causing more distress for poor people who already face the distress of losing their homes. I know that the prime minister has said that government assists people in those situations but the removal of the distress fund is a destruction of the proper mechanisms that have been established to give immediate assistance to suffering families.”

Lost in the weeds of all this political intrigue are the people on the ground. Denroy Pierre said he knows nothing about any plans to assist him and his fellow fire victims.  “None of them have come to me to say anything,” he said. “I would welcome the assistance but there have been no offers.”

As for Owen Cazaubon, he said: “We have four structures completely destroyed and one only partially. At least five people or more have lost their homes and belongings.” What caused the fire remains at this point a mystery, like so many other conflagrations.

“We had some witnesses here today,” he revealed.“We tried to get some witness statements to determine the cause and origin of that fire. The fire happened on Thursday 18th April. Most of the homes destroyed were wooden structures and we have to understand how quickly fires propagate through combustibles such as wood. It did not take much time for all those structures to be engulfed. As I said, the fire department is committed to investigating this tragedy and to make sure we find the origin so as to prevent recurrences.” 

By Cazaubon’s account:  “In about 3-5 minutes a wooden structure could be completely engulfed. A flashover will take about five minutes when the temperature of the fire goes to about 500-600 degrees Celsius.” If the Rose Hill and Sunbilt fires are anything to go by, the cause of this latest disaster won’t be uncovered any time soon.