Fire destroys Casuarina Hotel |03 January 2008

According to the Fire Department, the fire apparently started in the roof of the building, and because the roof was completely thatched, the fire spread through the whole building rapidly, destroying the entire infrastructure in the process.

The Casuarina Hotel was not being used as a hotel when the fire occurred, but was housing Malagasy nationals working for a local company named Season’s Management Company.
 
It was the tenants themselves who alerted the Fire Department on the fire, after they had apparently tried and failed to put it under control.

Superintendent Justin Sirame told Seychelles Nation that his department was alerted on the fire precisely at 10:19 in the morning, and that they arrived on site ten minutes later.

He confirmed that when they arrived, the building was completely burned down, adding that they were fortunate enough to get there in time to stop the fire from spreading to a nearby compartment of the building which was housing gas cylinders.

“Had we gotten there a few minutes later, the cylinders would have probably exploded, and would have endangered the lives of many, even the bystanders on the other side of the road,” he noted. 

He added that besides removing the cylinders, all that could be done at the time when the fire services arrived on site, was to put out the still smouldering embers.