The sole Fire Service Investigator to assess the scene of the Camp Street prison fire has concluded what was already established by numerous accounts so far—that the fatal fire was started by inmates belonging to the Capital A Division although who is specifically responsible is yet to be determined.
The investigator, Andrew Holder, who has 18 years’ experience in the Fire Service, yesterday told the members of the Commission of Inquiry (CoI) probing the tragedy that it was his role to merely determine the cause of the fire, and the police’s job to determine who started it. His assessment was dependent on interviews conducted with six inmates, whose identities were protected during the proceedings yesterday for security reasons. He also relied on the corroboration of witness statements with “data from the physical assessment of the structure,” and the principles of fire engineering.
Holder’s initial observations indicated that there were two seats of fire; one at the back door and the other near the hole in the wall dividing the Capital A and B divisions. It was later determined that the fire near the door had actually been lit on the
