VIFS Firefighters Battle Fire That Threatened Homes In Southgate Farm This Afternoon

John McCarthyPosted oninAt VIFreep, Breaking News, Crime News, St. Croix News

UNDER CONTROL: A Virgin Islands Fire Services firefighter re-arranges the hose to attack the brush fire today. VIRGIN ISLANDS FREE PRESS photos by ROBERT NEAL.

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CHRISTIANSTED — A three-alarm brush fire threatened homes on the east side of the street leading to Green Cay Marina in Southgate Farm early Sunday afternoon.

The blaze was contained by Virgin Islands Fire Service firefighters who battled it with at least three fire engines before 1 p.m. today.

At its closest, the brush fire came within about 50 feet of the back of a white house with peach-colored trim on the hypalon roof (see picture).

Some people stopped by the side of the road to watch the brush fire as firefighters worked to contain it.

Motorists driving the East End Road early this afternoon heard the sirens from the fire engines when the trucks arrived on the scene.

John McCarthy

John F. McCarthy is a veteran journalist in the Caribbean, writing from the "Decision Space" where survival meets the surreal. His reporting steel was tempered by a lineage of legendary editors and broadcasters, including Ed Wynn Brant (The Bomb), Owen Eschenroder (Ann Arbor News), Lynelle Emanuel (BVI Beacon), and Charles Thanas (WSVI-TV). Alongside longtime colleague Kenneth C. "Casey" Clark, McCarthy has navigated the front lines of the territory’s history—from the 1997 volcanic "snow" to every major hurricane since Hugo. Known for leaning out of doorless helicopters to capture the "money shot," McCarthy now edits the V.I. Free Press, providing the essential link between the island's colonial past and its SpaceX future.