A businessman is estimating a loss of close to $2million dollars in damage, after fire destroyed his block factory in Sangre Grande on Sunday.
Carl Sampson, owner of Sampson’s Pallet and Brick Factory on the Eastern Main Road in Sangre Grande, said the fire began around 11.45 am. However, he was unable to say how it started.
He claimed fire officers from the Sangre Grande Fire Station took more than an hour to respond and when they arrived they went into the nearby compound of XTRA Foods.
There were also reports that the hoses used by the fire tenders were leaking badly, and that at one point they also ran out of water.
A report said apart from the warehouse, one truck two forklifts, a concrete mixer and other machines were destroyed.
Sampson told media that by the time the fire officers arrived on his compound the entire warehouse and one house was engulfed in flames.
However, the officers contained the fire from spreading to nearby houses with the assistance of fire appliances from Arima.
Alix Ramdass Sand and Gravel Company Limited supplied portable water to the fire tenders.
The fire has left eight employees out of a job.
Natasha Hamilton, a mother of two and single parent whose house was destroyed in the fire, said everything was burnt.
She told GML school books and uniforms belonging to her children who attend North Eastern College and Guaico Government Primary respectively, were also destroyed.
She is now appealing for assistance.
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