Oct. 3, 2007 — As of late Wednesday afternoon, Fire Services officials were still looking into what caused an early-morning fire that destroyed the uppermost portion of the Jala Jala Nightclub in downtown St. Thomas.
The fire was called in around 3 a.m., and workers responding to the scene were able to put out the blaze out within an hour, according to Fire Chief Glenn "Milo" Francis. No injuries were reported, either to firefighters or civilians, he added.
Though Francis said he still does not know what caused the fire, he explained that workers conducting an investigation of the building did notice a number of fire hazards and safety violations.
"For example, we observed exits that were padlocked when they shouldn’t have been," he said. "While that is a common thing within some of the businesses, it is still against the fire code, and we are fortunate, given this situation, that we did not lose any lives. So we are definitely going to start inspecting businesses more, along with their activities, and make sure everything is being conducted in accordance with the code."
The Source will continue to provide updates on the status of the investigation as more details become available.
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