On Thursday we showed you the fire in ButtonWood Bay that burnt out BELARGO Enterprises and destroyed all their machinery and supplies inside. The employees told us that just before the fire broke out they heard popping noises inside the office.
Today, Station Supervisor Kenneth Mortis gave us the overview of the fire:
Kenneth Mortis, Station Officer, National Fire Service
"On Thursday the 9th of November sometime between 2:15 and 2:30 the fire department was alerted of a fire over at the BELAGRO establishment in the Buttonwood Bay Area when we arrived we observed fire exiting from the right front portion of the building and immediately we got into investigation, or should I say we got into operation extinguishing the fire after which the investigation commenced. Through the investigation we learnt that the building was owned by 65 year old Mr Lawrence Craig who at the time was out of the country however he was alerted of the fire almost immediately by his son 21 year old Mr Lance Craig and a worker 75 year old or 73 year old Margaret Usher. What we gathered from these people is that they heard what was a continuous
popping sound and unfortunately without trying to investigate where this popping sound was coming from it was alleged that they made call to BEL to report what they were hearing. It was when they were really alerted that fire and smoke was emitting the building that's when they decided to exit the building. Fortunately no lives sustained physical damage as a result of the fire and unfortunately the room that served as the office area for Belagro that room was completely gutted or should I say completely destroyed and other portions of the building located at the rare behind that room sustained fire smoke and minimal heat damage."
Mortis says that popping noises were an indication of an electrical problem leading back to the office's solar powered system, which he further explained.
Kenneth Mortis, Station Officer, National Fire Service
"What happened is the building is sustained with solar energy so to speak and it has a battery back up that suffices the building or that particular room with electricity. The fire has been determined as a result of a faulty battery backup system and with that said then again we also need to look at all the safe measures that are in place whenever we are using these solar panels and a battery backup as a secondary means of electricity. We want to look at how often these are serviced so they speak so these are just things you want to take into consideration if you decide to venture on doing that on your own."
The building was insured.
