The country’s emergency services sprang into action after receiving a call on January 11 at 0.37 AM of a house on fire in the district of Dutch Quarter.
While the fire trucks were in route, the officers were informed that neighbors had contained the fire and nobody was at home.
Fire trucks were on the scene within eight minutes after receiving the call. Upon arrival, they saw the flames were out, but that smoke was still coming out of the house.
Fire fighters carried out a survey of the house and discovered a person lying on the floor in a backroom. Fire personnel got the person outside where he was attended too by ambulance emergency medical service attendants. The elderly man had suffered from smoke inhalation.
After the patient was secured, he was immediately transported to the St. Maarten Medical Center for further treatment.
The Fire Department would like to thank the neighbors for their quick action, the Police and Emergency Medical Services, and fire personnel for their services rendered which resulted in the fire victim being rescued from the burnt home.
Fire personnel carried out an investigation into the cause of the fire, and it was determined that it was an electrical entertainment system.
The house received a considerable amount of damage where one room was completely burnt out. The rest of the interior of the home had major heat and smoke damage.