Fire Services Director Superintendent Walter Evans yesterday clarified that a fire that occurred on the grounds of the Southern Police Station on Quakoo and Market Streets Tuesday evening was from a transformer owned by the Bahamas Electricity Corporation (BEC) and at no time was the station impacted.

There were reports that the station was on fire, but Supt. Evans dispelled these reports noting that the transformer is kept in a gated area on the station’s premises.

“It was a transformer which is owned by The Bahamas Electricity Corporation which is on the property of the Southern Police Station,” he told the Bahama Journal.

The fire chief said officers received a call around 8:48 p.m. Tuesday, alerting them to a situation at the station. He said the first unit arrived on the scene within four minutes after receiving the call.

“They met smoke emanating from the transformer,” Supt. Evans said. “BEC personnel were also called and arrived very quickly and were able to assist fire services by opening the transformer and the fire on the inside of the transformer was extinguished.”

This fire did lead to a disruption in power supply for nearby residents and businesses and while the police station took some precautionary measures to ensure all occupants inside the station were safe, he again reminded that the station was never under any imminent threat.

“At the time of the incident all of the occupants of the police station – five police officers and one customer were evacuated and there was no damage in the aftermath to the station itself,” he said. “Power supply in the general vicinity of the police station heading south from as far as Peter Street and in the north as far as Fowler Street there was disrupted. However, the police service was in no way interrupted and the service of the Royal Bahamas Police Force continues even as BEC continues its efforts to ensure that power is restored to full normalcy.

Power has since been fully restored in those affected areas.