The Tribune

By FARRAH JOHNSON

fjohnson@tribunemedia.net

POLICE in New Providence are investigating after arsonists reportedly set fire to and destroyed an unoccupied building at the Persis Rodgers Home for the Aged yesterday morning.

According to police reports, shortly before 5am Sunday, Fire Services officers responded to the home after receiving reports that an unoccupied building on the property was on fire.

While firefighters were attempting to extinguish the blaze, the building collapsed, injuring three officers.

The injured officers were taken to hospital where they are listed in stable condition.

None of the residents of the home was injured during the incident. Police suspect the incident is an act of arson.

Francis Ledee, president of the senior citizens’ home, said while none of the residents was hurt, she is still troubled by the incident.

“I’m pained to know the seniors had to go through this, but God is still good,” she told The Tribune.

“The night supervisors and staff called me around a quarter to five this morning to say that the third building on the property was on fire (and), of course, I rushed down there.”

Mrs Ledee said when she got to the scene, she found out that men had come to the property and stopped to the office in the first building, before going to the “very back” and setting an abandoned building on fire.

“They set fire to it and it severely burned the place,” she said.

“They were all senior people – some of them they were even blind – but we thank God we were able to get them to that front building in one piece and out of the smoke and trauma of it all.”

Asked whether she believed the senior citizen’s home was specifically targeted, she added: “Honest to goodness absolutely. I think it was Wednesday or Thursday night of last week I got a call from the night supervisors saying that two or three young men came very silently to the front building and started to rattle the front door of the ladies dormitory.

“...In the second incident, they went to the second building (and) they did the same thing. When they couldn’t get access to any of the two buildings by the doors, they took our outside chairs and they just tumbled them and threw them all over the place.”

Speaking about the extent of damage to the building by the fire, she added: “That building is completely gone. That was a very bad fire, my gracious. Three police officers had to go to hospital, I think the raft hit one or two and the other one was taken there for breathing in smoke.”

Still, Mrs Ledee commended the officers for working diligently to ensure that the flames were extinguished.

She also said she spoke with the seniors at the home to see how they were processing the incident.

“My first duty was to talk to them and watch how they reacted and there are not any complaints. They look okay (but) that’s all I can say for the time being because such traumas could have later effects, but there were no (reactions) up to the time I left.”

In a press release yesterday, St Barnabas MP Shanendon Cartwright also condemned the act of arson, describing the incident as disturbing.

“This morning’s sinister and cowardice act of arson at the Persis Rodgers Home for the Aged in the Oakes Field community is deeply troubling and should enrage every Bahamian,” he said.

“We are ultimately grateful that there were no lives lost and no injuries to any of the residents of the home. Our continued prayers remain with the three courageous officers who were injured during this morning’s blaze and we thank them and their families for their service and bravery.”

Mr Cartwright said he had spoken with officials and the home’s administrators “regarding the incident and ongoing security measures.”

He also assured his constituents that the matter was under “intense investigation.”

“We join with all in the Oakes Field community and Bahamians everywhere in condemning this reprehensible, hateful and deliberate targeting of our nation’s most prized possession, our elderly,” he said.

“May God continue to cover them and keep them.”