Early-morning fire guts Port of Spain drag mall booths

While he is grateful no one was hurt in a fire in downtown Port of Spain early on Thursday morning, one businessman says he is devastated because his clothing stall was destroyed after he opened it only a week ago.

Police said a security guard at the Tax Appeal Board on Frederick Street, Port of Spain, heard crackling and saw smoke rising from one of the booths at the People's Mall Co Ltd, better known as the drag mall, at around 12.01 am.

The mall, on the eastern side of Frederick Street, runs from almost opposite Hart Street to Queen Street.

The security guard called the police, who in turn called the fire service. Officers from the Wrightson Road Fire Station extinguished the blaze, which started at Al-Razaaq's Burgers and Gyros, near the corner of Queen Street.

Investigators said the fire also spread to Satya's Fashions next door, destroying it.

Newsday visited on Thursday morning and spoke with the owner of Satya's Fashion, Satya Dev, who said he was told about the fire early on Thursday morning and went to see the damage with his brother Gyan Prakash, who ran the new stall.

"Right now, everything is in my name. I will see if there is anything for us to salvage. to see if we can get something in return.

"We're broken down now, we can't do anything. I can't do anything again. I spent so much money, and I lost everything. If I have hope I can do something, well, now I have lost it."

Dev opened the store on Ash Wednesday. He and his brother are Indian nationals who have lived in TT since 2016.

When Newsday visited, other vendors were helping Dev remove debris from the stall. Burnt appliances and cookware were also removed from the burger stand.

One vendor said her stall was mostly unaffected by the fire, other than some water damage to the walls.

"My phone battery died last night, so I wasn't able to hear about what happened. Only this morning when it got some charge I realised what happened.

"It's terrible what happened, but it happens from time to time."

Fire officers are continuing enquiries into what caused the blaze. One officer suspected it may have been electrical, given the number of appliances plugged into an electrical socket.

Newsday also spoke to Anthony Ash, the financial director of the People's Mall Co Ltd. He sympathised with vendors who lost merchandise during the blaze, but said discussions have been held on building sturdier stalls that would be more resilient against fire in the future.

"People are under stress...because it's a hard time for everyone.

"As the financial director of the People's Mall, I can tell you what we have in mind, if you notice that the Henry Street side of the drag mall has concrete booths."

He said they were built after two separate fires on the Henry Street side of the mall in 2018.

"That's what we have in mind for the future. We want to have a better mall from the outskirts. But for now we're just trying."

Ash said he believed there had been five fires at the drag mall since the early 2000s. Booths were destroyed in two fires in June and November 2018. The mall stands on the site of older buildings also destroyed by fire. There were once plans for a "people's mall" in a concrete building to be put up on the site.

Contacted for comment, Port of Spain mayor Joel Martinez said he learned about the fire while travelling through downtown on Thursday morning to a meeting, and was still awaiting more details from the CEO of the city corporation.

He was concerned over fires downtown.

"I have been asking for some form of report that would tell me something, because every time there is a fire there, I am very concerned about the fire, first of all, and secondly, the fact that there are other neighbouring businesses that can go into millions and millions of dollars (in damage) and can affect the city of Port of Spain.

"At this time I will ask formally for a report to indicate what can be done, as we have had too many fires there."

Newsday tried to contact Minister of Local Government and Rural Development Faris Al-Rawi but was unsuccessful up to press time.