A probe has been launched in­to the cir­cum­stances be­hind an ear­ly morn­ing fire at a Child Sup­port Cen­tre, which led to the emer­gency evac­u­a­tion and re­lo­ca­tion of 18 chil­dren in res­i­dence.

A state­ment from the Chil­dren’s Au­thor­i­ty con­firms that the fire did oc­cur, and that Fire Ser­vice per­son­nel were able to get the fire un­der con­trol. 

The Au­thor­i­ty al­so con­firms that the chil­dren were evac­u­at­ed safe­ly and cur­rent­ly are at an­oth­er fa­cil­i­ty, and there were no in­juries.

The fol­low­ing is the full text of the state­ment from the Chil­dren’s Au­thor­i­ty…

The Chil­dren's Au­thor­i­ty of Trinidad and To­ba­go has re­lo­cat­ed 18 chil­dren from one of its Child Sup­port Cen­tres, fol­low­ing an ear­ly morn­ing fire of un­known ori­gin.  There are no re­ports of any in­juries.

Quick re­sponse by care­givers and se­cu­ri­ty of­fi­cers on du­ty, in ac­cor­dance with the Au­thor­i­ty's Crit­i­cal In­ci­dent Pol­i­cy, led to the im­me­di­ate evac­u­a­tion of all the chil­dren, who have since been re­lo­cat­ed to an­oth­er fa­cil­i­ty.

Fire of­fi­cers re­spond­ed and were able to bring the fire un­der con­trol.

The top floor of the two-storey build­ing has been dam­aged.

The Fam­i­lies of the chil­dren are be­ing no­ti­fied of the sit­u­a­tion and as­sured that all the chil­dren are safe. Coun­selling sup­port is al­so be­ing pro­vid­ed to the chil­dren.

Fire of­fi­cers will be con­duct­ing an in­ves­ti­ga­tion to de­ter­mine the cause of the fire.