Investigation into Clifton fire begins
INVESTIGATIONS began yesterday at a St Peter Port house that was gutted by fire over the weekend.
The building, on the steep Clifton Steps, had its top floor reduced to smouldering ruins by the Sunday-night blaze.
Guernsey Fire and Rescue duty officer Steve Wilkes, pictured, said it was too early to determine what had started the fire, but as the section of the house which caught alight was undergoing renovation, it allowed the flames to spread faster, burning so hot that the structural integrity of the building may now be compromised, he added.
'We are currently investigating the cause of the fire with the police, which is standard procedure.
'The owners were living in a habitable part of the building, and it was mostly a building site upstairs – although there is a lot of water damage downstairs.
'The structural steel beams were warped due to the intensity of the fire.
'The wind was blowing in the opposite direction to the neighbour's house,
but if there is a risk of fire spreading because of other buildings' close proximity, we will do all we can with our resources to prevent that from happening.'
