A devastating fire has severely damaged the Questelles Government School in St. Vincent and the Grenadines just days before students were scheduled to return from Christmas break. The blaze, which erupted around 4 p.m. on Monday, completely destroyed the roof and structural integrity of the building housing Grades 3 and 4 classrooms along with the school’s kitchen facility that provides meals for economically disadvantaged students.
Fire Chief Superintendent Mark Ellis reported that despite prompt response from emergency services, the building was already fully engulfed in flames when firefighters arrived. Eight firefighters battled the inferno for hours, successfully preventing the fire from spreading to adjacent school buildings but facing significant challenges due to equipment limitations and collapsed galvanized roofing materials.
The incident has exposed critical infrastructure shortcomings within the nation’s fire services, with only one fire tender equipped with a 300-gallon water tank initially responding to the emergency. Firefighters struggled without elevated access until a police bucket truck arrived approximately three hours later, enabling more targeted firefighting efforts.
Education officials, led by Chief Education Officer Kay Martin Jack, are urgently developing contingency plans to accommodate displaced students. Potential solutions being considered include classroom splitting and reorganization across available spaces within the school system. The Ministry of Education is also investigating whether security personnel were present at the time the fire broke out.
Authorities have launched a formal investigation into the fire’s origins, with no immediate determination regarding cause. Possible electrical issues or incidents originating in the tuck shop area are being considered, though the snack shop area remained unaffected by the flames. Senior police officials, including Commissioner Enville Williams, were present at the scene overseeing emergency operations and crowd control measures.