The day that Nassau burned

It's not often in life that you can be present when history is made, but every now and then something happens right in front of you that you just can't ignore.

Such is the case of a trip to Nassau, Bahamas back in the fall of 2001.

While staying at our time share, WestWind 1, we took a quick day trip over to 'Atlantis' to eat, play at the casino and do some sight seeing.

As we left the Paradise Island and crossed over the bridge towards the downtown area, we noted a faint plume of smoke from the downtown area.

The closer we got to the downtown area, the darker thicker the smoke got. Within the span of about five minutes from first seeing the plume, I took the first photo that you see here to the right.

The cause of the fire was fiercely debated in the local news papers, on radio, and in person by the natives. Some said accidental, some said arson, and a story about a fight between a mother and a son came out during which he threw something that was burning at her and caught her display on fire.

Now, the "straw market", as it had become to be know, was a Nassau tradition. A huge two story premise occupying several blocks of the prominent downtown landscape, the market was a makeshift mall where locals would sell hand made goods and knickknacks to the tourists who flocked here mostly by cruise ship but also from the local resorts and time shares. A walk through the market was an experience in pleasant harassment, as each vendor vied for the opportunity to "haggle" with you and try to sell you something, needed or not.

Being loaded with flammable materials (clothing, wood carvings, toys, towels, sheets, etc), the fire loading of this venue was extreme, and it lacked fire protection as would be mandated in similar state-side venues. The fire spread in a very rapid nature and quickly engulfed the entire venue.

An overwhelmed fire service was overloaded with an extremely large and dangerous fire that was progressing at lightning speed. Inadequate water flow to the downtown area meant that fire crews sat at their rigs with no water to affect change on the titanic devastation occurring in front of them.

While taking these photos, an engine pulled up behind (the picture seen at the left) and stayed there for several minutes. The driver and command officer stared at the horrific scene in front of them, knowing there was little if anything they could do. Citizens started yelling at them to do something. Sensing the frustration, they moved on towards the fire a mere half block away.

Most of the downtown area shares a similar architecture style as most of the buildings not only look alike but are built using the same materials. This was especially true for the wood shingled roofs of most of these buildings. Fire spread was devastating due to a gentle onshore breeze that gently spread embers from the market fire onto surrounding buildings.

Frustrated by the lack of response from the civil crews, citizens began banding into small groups of self-elected firefighters in an effort to try to stop the spread through outlying buildings. Grabbing a ladder of a contractor's construction truck, and dragging a garden hose from across the street, these would be hero's attempted to save a standalone structure, which would have been a logical choice since fire spread could only come through the roof as it had nothing attached on the sides.

By the time they were able to get to the top of this building, there was barely a trickle of water coming from it, and not nearly enough to combat the number of falling embers raining down from above.

This fire calamity raged as an unstoppable inferno for many hours through that day and into the night, with help only arriving after coast guard ships were able to pump in from the wharf that runs parallel to the downtown area.
Smoke from the fire could be seen throughout the island, as is seen in this picture taken from about 7 miles away from the downtown area.

In the days following the fire, more information surrounding the cause was discovered, and it was learned that a young man had intentionally set fire to part of the market.

The magnitude of damage extended not only to the straw market itself, but to buildings adjacent to it, and to many others that had wood shingled roofs. Many many businesses lost not only their storefronts but also the buildings that they had resided in.

This once great tourist destination would be torn down never to be rebuilt following the fire. Today, a tent covers this area with vendors again selling their goods in true Bahamian fashion inside. The palatial structure that existed previously is now only a faint memory.

The legacy of this pinnacle will live on only in memory.

As if feeling the need to compete against man's devastation that day, mother nature decided to create a waterspout just off shore from Nassau. Lasting only for a few minutes, it was a marvel to watch and see on this most emotionally draining day.

It is also sad to think that all this took place only a few short days before another, more massive tragedy would take place in the United States. The Nassau fire was September 4th, 2001, a mere 7 days from the terrorist attacks that took place 9/11/01.

jp