BREAKING NEWS: House On Fire In Cay Hill – UPDATE 2

BREAKING NEWS — HOUSE ON FIRE — News just reached our TODAY ONLINE NEWSPAPER desk that a fire broke out in the shanty neighborhood in the Cay Hill area in the vicinity behind the well-known Cake House Road. It is said that huge smoke can be seen billowing from the fire source. However, a fire official says the area of the source of the fire is not easily accessible for the fire trucks.

Photo by Milton Pieters

Photo caption: Photo taken from screenshot of videoclip. Video provided by Milton Pieters

Above is the videoclip uploaded to us from our photo reporter, Milton Pieters.

As can be seen indeed, huge smoke is billowing from a house located in the shanty town area opposite Kooyman in Cay Hill – and not opposite Cake House Supermarket in Cul-de-Sac as reported earlier. This district is however accessible via the well-known Cake House Road, starting from where Cake House Supermarket used to be located in Cay Hill on the A.J.C. Brouwers Road.

It is reported that several people have been rendered homeless due to this fire.

UPDATE

Photo caption: Fire engulfs the apartment building in an area known as ‘Shanty Town’. Photo by Milton Pieters

SEVERAL HOMELESS AFTER MID MORNING FIRE

GREAT BAY– Rushing to the scene in their quest to distinguish a fire turned out to be a logistical nightmare for the members of the St. Maarten Fire Department due to the fact that the area in which the fire was taking place was not easily accessible.

As a direct result of the fire which took place in the area that is often referred to as ‘Shanty Town’ behind the Premier Supermarket. Traffic flowing in both directions had to be diverted to allow for free access to the fire hydrans in the imideate vicinity.

According to the officer on duty, Mr Gibs, it was after they were leaving the scene of the fire in Ebenezer in which an ambulance was destroyed by fire that they received the call. “At this point, we don’t have the probable cause because the officers are still busy,” Gibs said during his initial response.

Roads too narrow for fire trucks to get to burning apartment

He however pointed out that it was an extremely difficult task in getting the fire trucks close to the scene of the fire and explained why. “The roads are too narrow in addition to the vehicles that were parked in certain areas. We had no other choice than to park the trucks and roll out the hoses, but the boys are trained for that.”

Photo caption: School children from nearby school being escorted to safety

Exploding gas cylinders made matters worse

Gibs further explained that the house that was totally engulfed by the fire was very large and what made matters worse were exploding gas cylinders. “They discovered at least eight cylinders of which five exploded,” he added.

Photo caption: Road blocks led to major traffic jams on all the access roads around Cay Hill

Fire contained within 45 minutes

The good news was that the fire was eventually contained after about 45 minutes and at the time of the incident, the building was unoccupied. “When we arrived, the building was already evacuated, but a few persons had to be treated on the spot for smoke inhalation. My guess is that those affected persons were trying to salvage what they could when the fire started.” However It could not be established exactly how many persons were displaced as a result of the fire.