It was around 20:30 in the evening of Monday, July 4 that a fire broke out in a warehouse of this unit of the SSU where a chainsaw was kept and the front part of this building. The flames were to spread quickly in the building with mattresses that were stored there. Firemen of the capital who went to the place succeeded in controlling this fire at about 22:30. However, sparks were to cause a new fire around 1 am, Tuesday, July 5. The flames were devastating.
Twenty-four hours after the violent fire that completely destroyed the wing of the colonial building that housed the Special Supporting Unit (SSU) N0 4 at the Central Barracks, the team of investigators set up by the police commissioner, Anil Kumar Dip is gathering as much information as possible to elucidate the circumstances of this disaster that has caused significant damage. In the meantime, the SSU Unit 4, which has some seventy men, is not operational. The new recruits, numbering almost ninety, who were undergoing training and occupying dormitories at this location, returned to their homes on the evening of Monday, July 4.
The new recruits were in the reading room at the time of the first fire. Like the police officers in this unit, these recruits lost all of their belongings. These trainee officers have been allowed to return to their homes until they are provided with new equipment and another location to continue their training. The personnel of the SSU N0 4, who were on leave that day, will be redeployed from Wednesday, July 6.
The new recruits were in the reading room at the time of the first fire. Like the police officers in this unit, these recruits lost all of their belongings. These trainee officers have been allowed to return to their homes until they are provided with new equipment and another location to continue their training. The personnel of the SSU N0 4, who were on leave that day, will be redeployed from Wednesday, July 6.
At the police headquarters in the Central Barracks, they say it is too early to give a figure for the damage caused by the fire. In addition to the equipment used by the police, weapons and foodstuffs were damaged.
The Assistant Chief Fire Officer, Dorsamy Ayacouty does not hide that the task was as fateful as it was historical. Inspector Siva Coothen attributes the magnitude of the fire to the fact that the historical stone building, which had been built in 1740, is mostly made of wood.
No records of the investigations
Commenting on the fire, Inspector Siva Coothen said that “the cause of the fire is still unknown. Once the Fire Services declare the scene as safe, there will be an investigation to determine the origin by the Fire investigation Unit, the Forensic Scientific Laboratories, and the Senior Crime Office“. The inspector also mentioned an investigation by the Electrical Unit. Explaining the scale of the two-stage fire, the PPO official said that “it is a historical building, which had been built in 1740, with several areas of wooden structures. There were also the personal effects of the officers.”
He insisted on specifying “but these are not documents that concern investigations” in order to “reassure those who could fabricate rumours“. All the elements as well as the detainees were evacuated at the time of the first fire and were relocated. “Operations are impossible at the Line Barracks but police work will continue without interruption from the locations where the various elements have been relocated.”
Historic and risky fire
This fire will be known as a historical fire in a historical building. The Assistant Chief Fire Officer, Dorsamy Ayacouty, in charge of the operations since last night, said that the operation required the work of about 60 firefighters from the Port-Louis, Coromandel, Quatre-Bornes and Curepipe fire stations and several hours of training. The end of operations was announced at around 10am on Tuesday. “This is a historical fire in a historical building. This fire was very risky, the work was special because the building is very old, and we had to motivate the officers. The police had already done a complete evacuation from the first fire,” he told the press. There were no casualties or injuries. Dorsamy Ayacootee said that “we cannot determine whether the two fires are related. It is only the result of the investigation that will determine the origin of the fire”.
