KFC's Charlotte Street branch burns...day before food-sector restart

THE KFC outlet at Charlotte Street and Duke Street, Port of Spain, was virtually destroyed by fire on Sunday.

Prestige Holdings Ltd CEO Simon Hardy said while the fire could not have come at a worse time – mere hours before the restart of the food sector – he was thankful the store was closed and no one was hurt.

Fire Station Officer Forde told Newsday that officers from Fire Headquarters, Port of Spain responded to a report of a fire at the outlet at approximately 1.55 am.

Forde said, “There was a small fire in the building but officers from Wrightson Road responded and quickly brought the fire under control.

“Right now we are doing our investigations to find the cause and origin of the fire.”

He added while they had ideas as to what caused the fire, he did not wish to reveal them until investigations were completed. Forde said investigations would take approximately half a day.

About 40-50 per cent of the building was destroyed by the fire but there was no damage to neighbouring buildings.

Contacted for comment, Hardy said it was too early to tell the cause of the fire as investigations were still ongoing.

Staff at that branch will be temporarily reabsorbed into other outlets, he said.

“Luckily, it happened when the store was closed, so no one was hurt, thankfully....

“As soon as the authorities give us the okay we will look to rebuild and get that store up and running as quickly as possible.”

Hardy said he did not have an idea as to estimated losses, as the blaze happened at approximately 2 am on Sunday and company officials had not had a chance to assess them with the insurance company as yet.

However, significant damage was done, particularly to the front of the outlet, he said.

The food sector reopens on Monday after being closed for approximately two and a half months because of increased covid19 infections in the country.