Firefall - Paperback

by Gandolph St Clair (Author)

FIREFALL is a historical, fictional, short story based on the 1927 and 1948 fires which destroyed the capital town of Castries in St. Lucia. Specifically the story deals with the fast paced trauma, of the 1948 scenario with references to the 1927 inferno. Both fires flattened about a third of the structural space of Castries. The main characters are the Collymore Family, comprising a Barbadian migrant, Thomas, who has become a Policeman and by extension a fireman, his wife, son and daughter. It is therefore, their story, which unfolds as they combine with limited resources to fight, the elemental fire. During the Second World War, the Germans torpedoed HMCS Lady Nelson and Umtata while they were berthed in Castries, on 22nd March 1942, leaving twenty three persons dead, destroying the HMCS Lady Nelson and Umtata. It is now sixty nine years since the American forces based in Vieux Fort travelled to Castries to assist the St. Lucia fire fighters in quelling the fiery fire of 19th June 1948. As Firefall ends, on the following morning, we find a young poet, rummaging through the scorched earth, and he poignantly tells the confronting Sergeant of his intention to write an immortal poem. The young man's name was Derek Walcott. This second edition of Firefall contains photographs of the New Castries, in tribute to the resilience and determination of the citizens of Castries, being a progressive beloved Caribbean city.