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alexk
Guest
Patricia “Babygirl” Wallace turned her face to the wall in tears yesterday, as her entire leather and craft store at the Drag Brothers Mall, one building after New City Mall on Independence Square, Port-of-Spain, went up in flames.
Fire officers attached to Fire Service Headquarters on Wrightson Road responded promptly and were able to put out the blaze before it could spread to neighbouring buildings.
Between tears and heavy breathing, Wallace, a Morvant mother of three, cried, “Oh God all de’ people orders and everything, nah. Ah loss everything…everything gone!”
She told the Sunday Guardian she opened her business, plugged in her fans to cool down the booth, which is located at the front of the establishment, and went to Frederick Street to repair a cellphone. On her way back she was notified her booth was on fire.
“And that was it, “oh God boy,” she lamented.
The fire, which started in Wallace’s booth just after 9 am and affected several other businesses, was believed to have been caused by an ongoing electrical problem.
“It has to be an electrical problem. All I do is plug in dem fans. I eh light no incense or nothing. And ah say when ah come back ah go mop out and clean. Ah just went to drop a phone to fix.”
Asked how much she estimated in losses, Wallace said in total no more than $80,000.
“I have $2,000 in orders and another $1,800 in orders. I just get $20,000 dollars in sou-sou hand last night. Plus ah have a lady rent - $1,500, plus ah have my sale for the week - $2,500,” she said.
“Everything still in de shop, I eh pack up my sales yet to bank it. I was going to do that this morning. I do all my deposits on a Saturday morning or a Saturday evening, yuh understand?”
Wallace said she had been continually complaining to the building manager because they were experiencing frequent power surges. However, even after calling in T&TEC as recent as two weeks ago to evaluate the problem, tenants were told nothing was wrong.
“My fan does be going zoom. De man in de back ah me, he fan mash-up, two of my fans and a radio mash up. We went to T&TEC to complain, they come and check it and they say it have no voltage problem,” Wallace said.
Asked if the building and her business were insured, Wallace said no as the building belonged to the Government.
The Sunday Guardian was unable to reach building custodian William Scott at the scene but in a subsequent interview with CNC3, he said it was an unfortunate incident, as in June a fire also hit the People’s Mall location on Henry Street, Port-of-Spain.
On June 2, 2018, vendors’ booths and stalls at the People’s Mall on Henry Street were destroyed by fire, the cause is yet to be determined.
Contacted on the role the Port-of-Spain City Corporation would play in the rebuilding or re-outfitting of the mall and insurance concerns, Deputy Mayor Hilan Morean said the mall fell under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development. As such, he said he was not familiar with the arrangements on insurance and compensation. Morean, who visited the scene after the fire, said the corporation will still play its role in whatever way regarding safety for city users. He said building inspectors would visit the location in the coming week to assess, review and dispatch letters to the owner of the building to ensure everything is in order.