Investigations continue into Tobago fire

Fire Services investigators returned to the scene of a fire in Tobago on Thursday to try and determine its cause.

On Wednesday, ten people including three children, were left homeless after fire destroyed their home in Crown Point.

Fire Services sources told Newsday that at about 9.54 am on Wednesday, residents of Palm Eagles Drive along Store Bay Local Road in Crown Point reported hearing a loud explosion. They saw smoke coming from a bedroom and raised an alarm.

He said there were three major occupancies – two residential and a commercial: restaurant and bar – leaving ten people homeless and two jobless.

A team of fire officers led by DFO Jacob visited the scene and extinguished the blaze.

When Newsday visited, the visually-impaired Velma Trim-Jackson said her family is grappling with uncertainty over how they would spend their Christmas. She said she had been in bed already when she heard a forceful banging on her front door.

“I was asleep when someone came banging on the house and told me, 'Get out get out, there is a fire.'”

Trim-Jackson said she and her other family members were unable to salvage anything.

“Everything is destroyed, every single thing.”

Her home and its contents, fire officials said, was valued at nearly $1.3 million, with damage put at $1 million.

The other residential property – a two-bedroom house – was valued at $1.6 million and this property suffered $150,000 in damage. The commercial side was valued at $675,000, with about $50,000 in losses.