EXCLUSIVE: Bog Walk Principal Appeals For Help After Fire Leaves Over $3M In Damage

The fire is said to have resulted from an electrical low voltage that was being experienced in the community.

The fire that destroyed a tuck shop last week Monday (December 5) at Tulloch Primary School in Bog Walk, St Catherine, resulted from an electrical low voltage and left damage that has a price tag of at least $3 million.

Principal Dameon Hines made the disclosure while he appealed for urgent help especially from corporate Jamaica.

He told The Beacon: “The firefighters are saying that the cause of the fire is an electrical low voltage. They also have reported that there had been several low voltage in the community. Persons were experiencing power off and on -like flickering away.”

The blaze, which was put out eventually by fire personnel, was detected hours before classes were scheduled to commence.

“It was quite shocking to us,” Hines said. “We were alerted of a fire in a section of the school building. When we got there, it was our tuck shop that was totally in flames; everything burnt out completely; nothing was spared.”

The properties destroyed included refrigerators, patty warmers and other appliances, as well as baked products and items of the sort that are usually sold to students. The school’s AC unit and items in the computer room were also affected, Hines said.

“The estimated [total] cost of the damage is mounting from $3 million upwards… The container that hosted the tuck shop is an estimated loss of $1.5 million,” the principal explained.

He added: “Right now we need all the assistance that we can get because we have lost everything. And so we definitely need help and we are making an appeal to those businesses in and around the community to come onboard urgently and assist us.”

What’s left of the school’s tuck shop

The school’s tuck shop was housed in a different building from the canteen.

As a result of the blaze, face-to-face classes were suspended and replaced by online teaching for the entire week. That was to facilitate what Hines said was a clean-up operation and an assessment of the school as it relates to safety.

Students were expected to return to face-to-face classes today to commence their end-of-term exams, but that plan was aborted because power supply is yet to be restored. It is understood that the Jamaica Public Service is yet to respond to the school’s request for electricity restoration.

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