Crown Point police are investigating a fire which completely gutted a hardware store in Tobago on Friday, August 2.
An estimated $15 million in losses and $5.4 million in damages have been reported while five are left homeless and seven jobless.
Around 2.45 am, an occupant of the residence above Dave’s Discount Hardware, on Milford Road, Canaan, awoke to the smell of gasoline and saw a vehicle on the compound was on fire.
An alarm was raised and the other people on the compound were able to make their escape.
The building, which also housed paint and other flammable substances, quickly became engulfed in flames.
The fire service and police were contacted and the blaze was extinguished, but the building was gutted.
Fire officials say it is a case of suspected arson.