(Eleuthera, Bahamas) – The Eleutheran was the first media house on the scene of the devastating fire in North Eleuthera on Tuesday, July 2nd, 2013, capturing images of the fire that will not be seen elsewhere.
The fire was reported at about 11:10am and is believed to have started in the storage room of the single storey building that housed the Administrator’s Office, Post Office, District Council, Town Hall and Magistrate’s Court. Community Volunteers fought the fire with water from the main water line in front of the building until firefighters arrived shortly after 12 noon with the fire truck equipment out of Lower Bogue. At 12:45pm crews were still fighting the blaze.
The contents of the building were fully consumed and debris smoldering when a party led by Minister of Local Government, V. Alfred Gray accompanied by MP for Central and South Eleuthera, Damian Gomez, Police Fire Chief Superintendent Walter Evans, local government representatives and government media representatives from New Providence arrived at about 1:30pm.
The Minister confirmed that the Government will re-build the structure at the same location in the community in the near future, stating that if it isn’t completed by the end of 2013 it will be well on its way.
The exact cause of the fire is not known at this time, although Superintendent Evans confirmed that after initial preliminary investigations, an electrical shortage is suspected.
Administrative employees were in the building at the time, however no one was seriously injured by the blaze. Administrator Jolton Johnson was on his way to the building, when the fire started, seeing smoke when he arrived and employees standing outside.
Jennifer Ward, a resident of Upper Bogue shared the feeling of devastation by many in North Eleuthera with the loss of the building which would have housed many government records including documents such as submitted house plans. Additionally, she shared how she and many others in the community remembered giving their time and labour to building the newer portion of the structure, which was added on to the original smaller structure, which had served as the Upper Bogue primary school for many years. This planned expansion of the school was built by the community, prior to the amalgamation of Upper Bogue Primary students into the combined North Eleuthera Primary School. The building was then transformed to serve up until Tuesday as the multi-faceted Administration building, servicing the settlements of Upper Bogue, Lower Bogue, The Bluff, The Current and Current Island.
In March, the North Eleuthera High School lost a block to fire and in January 2012, eleven (11) year-old Clemnardo Johnson of Lower Bogue died in a fire at his home, a stone’s throw away from the High School. The fires are not related, however, for the small North Eleuthera communities the losses are significant.
