Fire destroys home, business in Princes Town on Boxing Day

Brian Chadee examines his torched woodworking equipment which were destroyed after a fire razed his home at St Julien, Princes Town home on Boxing Day. - Photo by Angelo Marcelle

A fire destroyed the home and business of a Princes Town family on Boxing Day.

Homeowner Brian Chadee, 49, who lived with his wife and daughter at St Julien Road, said luckily no one was injured in the blaze.

Chadee said he inherited the house from his grandmother decades ago, where he resided with his 40-year-old wife and 20-year-old daughter.

Over the years, they refurbished the building, making it difficult to evaluate the cost of the financial loss.

Chadee said the woodwork shop at the back of the house, where he and his wife made furniture, was also destroyed. He said he had invested $200,000 in tools and materials in the workshop.

He said no one was at home when the fire erupted. He said the family was alerted after getting a call from a neighbour.

"One of my neighbours who lives way up on top of a hill saw the smoke and stuff, and then she called. I was just maybe about one or two minutes away from the location."

Chadee said when he got home, he saw the workshop on fire and tried to control the blaze with a garden hose, but his efforts were stymied by insufficient water pressure.

Some of Brian Chadee's ducks which managed to survive the blaze at his Princes Town home of Boxing Day. - Photo by Angelo Marcelle

He said neighbours joined in with a bucket brigade until the Fire Service arrived. By then, the fire had spread to the house.

The fire service was able to extinguish the blaze. He said now the family is waiting for the Fire Service to complete its investigations so they can try to pick up the pieces of their life.

"With friends and family and everyone around, we just need to kinda sort out and we'd work from that. In terms of work, I don't think (we could) because we have no tools, we have nothing. We have no material, nothing. I'm not too sure how we're working from that one."

In the interim, he said they were staying with a close friend who lives nearby.

Although he said the friend has not imposed a time restriction on the family, he noted, "We could only stay so much."

Chadee said the Princes Town Regional Corporation's Disaster Management Unit has dropped off some supplies, like mattresses for them, and the councillor visited the family.

However, he said he was open to assistance from the public.

"Whatever they could provide for us, we would gladly accept."

He can be reached at 464-1767.