On Friday evening, Joshua Thomas could do nothing but helplessly watch as all his hard work went up in flames. His cook shop caught fire when a minibus which was having mechanical issues erupted in flames and spread to the nearby structure along the Strathbogie main road.

Approximately 4:30pm on Friday evening, a Toyota Hiace minibus was reportedly having issues near the building when the owner called a mechanic to look at it. According to eyewitnesses, the mechanic removed a faulty pipe when the bus caught fire which then spread to the building which was just a few metres away. The mechanic allegedly fled the scene shortly after.

Residents attempted to tame the fire with buckets of water before it got to the shop, but the flames engulfed both the bus and the structure within minutes.

The fire department was called, and the fire was extinguished. The incident caused a pile-up of traffic along the Strathbogie main road. No one was injured.

Thomas, who was asleep at a house nearby when the incident happened, said he was made aware when he heard shouting coming from outside.

“Mi cyaah tell you what happen. A sleep mi a sleep and somebody call mi seh the shop under fire and when mi come mi see a wah bus dem a fix a the shop side and it ketch mi shop a fire. Everything inna it. Everything gone down. Every single thing mi lose. Mi lose mi clothes dem. Everything mi lose,” Thomas said.

Still trying to recover from the fire that burned down his house a mere three weeks ago, Thomas said he moved most of his belongings to the shop in an effort to restart his life. That fire, he said, was caused by children playing. This recent fire has put him back at square one.

“Wah day mi house ketch a fire an mi transfer everything outta the house to inna the shop and right now you haffi seh a outta door mi deh. Cause mi nuh have no clothes. All a mi clothes bun up inna mi suitcase. Mi music, everything gone down. The power saw weh mi use work, money gone down. Everything at all mi lose,” he told OBSERVER ONLINE.

An emotional Thomas said he was planning on opening his cookshop on Monday, after weeks of building the structure by himself at nights.

“The shop did open long time, but mi did lock it down. A Monday mi did fi open. Mi did a use wacker fi cut grass fi mek some money fi start it up back and dem deh bun up. Mi computer weh mi use fi play music fi mek some money bun up too. Everything mi lose. A me one use to work pon it. A nighttime mi come in and build likkle likkle and move it till it reach yah suh and everything gone,” Thomas lamented.