There was no fire at the Red House yes­ter­day.

This is ac­cord­ing to Colleen Hold­er, Di­rec­tor of Cor­po­rate Com­mu­ni­ca­tions and Pro­duc­tion at the Par­lia­ment. Hold­er said an emer­gency evac­u­a­tion pro­ce­dure was ini­ti­at­ed af­ter the fire alarm was trig­gered by dust caused by on­go­ing work.

Hold­er said that the Fire Ser­vice was called in as part of the emer­gency pro­to­col.

"By now some of you may be aware that a fire alarm sound­ed at the Red House to­day (Sun­day 2 Feb­ru­ary). The build­ing fire alarm sound­ed at 2.50 pm. The Par­lia­men­tary Po­lice Unit of­fi­cers re­spond­ed to the alarm and be­gan evac­u­at­ing the build­ing,” she ex­plained.

"No oth­er staff were in the build­ing. They in­ves­ti­gat­ed the area and were un­able to de­ter­mine the im­me­di­ate cause. The Trinidad & To­ba­go Fire Ser­vice (TTFS) was called in as per usu­al pro­to­col. The TTFS re­spond­ed and de­ter­mined that the alarm was trig­gered due to dust from pos­si­ble on­go­ing clean­ing works," Hold­er said.

Colleen Hold­er con­firmed that fire­fight­ers checked the area and de­clared that it was safe for work­ers to re­turn.

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Sto­ry by KEVON FELMINE (kevon.felmine@guardian.co.tt)

Im­age by NEIL RO­MAIN