The Tribune

By LYNAIRE MUNNINGS

Tribune Staff Reporter

lmunnings@tribunemedia.net

A FIRE ripped through Original Patties Bakery on Tonique Williams-Darling Highway early yesterday, destroying its storage and administrative areas, wiping out its stock and damaging company vehicles.

Fire Services responded to the bakery around 3am with three fire engines after receiving reports of a structural fire, according to police.

Firefighters arrived to find the two-storey building fully engulfed in flames. The second floor housed the company’s storage areas and administrative offices.

Video circulating online showed flames consuming much of the structure and illuminating the bakery’s orange-painted storefront. The roof appeared to have been destroyed as the fire burned through the building.

Firefighters eventually brought the blaze under control and extinguished it, but the business sustained significant damage.

Original Patties Bakery Operations Manager Jean Mosley-Culmer said the company lost all of its stock but expressed relief that no employees or relatives were inside when the fire broke out.

“Well, it’s a lot of stock,” Ms Mosley-Culmer told Our News. “We lost all of our stock, but to God be the glory, there wasn’t any of our staff or any of our family members were here, so there was no loss of life.”

She said the company would recover from the setback.

“We will move on from here,” Ms Mosley-Culmer said. “We will just take it one day at a time, and to God be the glory. Original Patties is still here.”

A site visit showed extensive damage to the building and several vehicles on the property.

Police said a white three-door Toyota van belonging to the business was destroyed in the fire. No injuries were reported. The cause of the blaze remained unknown yesterday as the investigation continued.