A devastating blaze that levelled the Calliaqua Police Station in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines on March 13 was not an act of arson or deliberate sabotage, initial findings from police and state investigative authorities have confirmed. National Security Minister St. Clair Leacock shared updated details of the ongoing probe during an interview with local outlet Boom FM this Tuesday, laying to rest widespread public speculation that the fire was intentionally set.
Leacock told radio listeners that early investigation results trace the origin of the fire to a faulty piece of electrical equipment installed on the ground floor of the two-story structure. “I have a formal report from the police as to the cause of the fire, and it is not nefarious as some people are speculating,” the minister stated. Dispelling conspiracies that officers themselves set the building ablaze, he joked with the host, “It started somewhere downstairs, possibly with a malfunctioned piece of item. It’s not deliberate, and the police didn’t run out and set the place afire and leave it alone. That’s not the case, your mischievous self.”
The minister also noted that the decades-old police station was already in severe disrepair before the fire, with flammable pitch pine paneling lining its interior. This construction material allowed the blaze to spread rapidly once ignited, he explained. While preliminary assessments point to an electrical malfunction as the source of the fire, Leacock emphasized that authorities are still conducting a granular, full review of all evidence. Even with submissions of initial reports from the national power company, police investigators, and official electrical inspectors, the government is combing through every detail of the case to avoid missing any critical information.
“Even though the power company has given their report, the police have given theirs, and the electrical inspector has given those, we are still doing the evaluation with a fine-teeth comb, so we have to be absolutely sure that we didn’t overlook any part of the investigation,” Leacock said, adding that he would not release full granular details of the cause until the review is finalized.
Following the destruction of the building, displaced officers have been temporarily relocated to the Calliaqua Town Hall, which sits on the same street in the popular south coast town. Long-term plans for a permanent new facility have already been in the works for some time, and the fire has accelerated discussions over the site of the new station.
Leacock confirmed that the government is not expected to reconstruct the police station at its original prime main-road location, which the ministry had already targeted for redevelopment before the blaze. Officials had previously identified a vacant plot of land further up Glen Road, below local food outlets, as the intended site for a new police station. Now, the government is considering a swap: officers will remain in the temporary town hall accommodation long-term, and a new municipal town hall will be constructed at the previously planned Glen Road police station site, while the original waterfront police station lot will be repurposed.
Minister Leacock stressed that any final decision will depend on engineering assessments, architect input, and public consultations, but guaranteed that whatever plan moves forward, officers will end up working in far better facilities than the dilapidated original building. He acknowledged that the original plot, which sits along the town’s main thoroughfare, is prime government-owned real estate, and noted that if a decision rested solely with ministry project staff, the fire-damaged building shell would already be scheduled for demolition within the next two weeks.
Still, Leacock noted that the timing and funding for demolition require careful budget consideration. Authorities must weigh whether allocating funds to demolish the structure is the most effective use of public money at this time, compared to directing those resources to other pressing infrastructure upgrades across the country. While the burnt-out shell remains an eyesore for the community, the minister commended relevant state agencies for their rapid and thorough cleanup work in the wake of the fire, which has mitigated much of the immediate public disruption.