PoS fire survivor slept on streets with appliances

With his home and business burned down, one of the survivors of Tuesday's fire in downtown Port of Spain resorted to sleeping on the pavement with appliances and personal belongings salvaged from his apartment.

The fire, at 26 Independence Square, Port of Spain, on Tuesday afternoon, left 11 people homeless.

While fire officers continue to investigate, police suspect an irate tenant started the fire by setting mattresses alight after her business in the building was broken into. They arrested a 42-year-old Morvant woman shortly after.

Newsday visited on Wednesday and spoke to Ricardo Polo, who said the ice cream store he owned on the ground floor was totally destroyed.

Polo, 32, said he lived in an apartment upstairs which was also destroyed by the fire.

"Last night I slept outside here under this tent, with the freezers and a couple other things I salvaged from inside.

"I have nowhere else to go and I don't want my things to get stolen, so I slept out here with them."

But Polo also said he had the option of returning to live with relatives in Laventille. However, he did not want to do so, as it would be too inconvenient to come downtown every day to work.

Newsday also spoke to blind resident Angelo Joseph, who also escaped the blaze on Tuesday. He said he spent the night at the Centre for Socially Displaced Persons in east Port of Spain, but was looking for another place to live.

"I got an offer from a friend of mine to come and live with her in Sangre Grande for a few days. But I'm not sure if I'm going to do that.

"For now I'm just happy that I made it out of the building alive. I was contacted by a lady and a gentleman from the family services division of the Ministry (of Social Development) who said they would try to assist me."

Joseph, 65, said he applied for a rental assistance grant earlier this year and hoped, given his current difficulties, his application would be expedited.

Responding to Newsday's questions via WhatsApp on Wednesday, Minister of Social Development and Family Services Donna Cox said officials were contacting the former tenants of the building to offer help.

Contacted for comment, Port of Spain mayor Joel Martinez said while he did not know if the city corporation's building inspectors knew what the property was used for, instances where people convert commercial buildings for residential purposes show a lapse on the part of building inspectors.

"While the building was in the city of Port of Spain, I am not aware if the building inspectors are aware of what this building in particular is being used for.

"The city council has an engineering division which is responsible for all the buildings in the city and they are supposed to be aware, if they are proactive, but I don't know know if they know. But I will ask my building inspectors to look into it.

"We have officers who are supposed to look out and make sure these buildings adhere to the proper code, but we need the officers to do their job a little more.

"This is not a time where we can afford to turn a blind eye to these things. (They) have to start doing their responsibilities as a servant of the city."

Martinez said the incident was unfortunate and the city corporation would be willing to assist those affected by the fire.

A sign outside the building said one of the floors was for rent. Newsday called the number on the sign and spoke to a man who did not want to give his name.

He said the building was rented to a company to do commercial business, and that companyh was in turn subletting the property to another person who allowed tenants to live there.

The speaker said this was not part of the agreement with the company.