Dumornay market fire leaves merchants demanding aid and threatening roadblocks

PORT-AU-PRINCE — A violent overnight fire swept through the Dumornay public market in Delmas 33— a northeast Port-au-Prince suburb—between Wednesday and Thursday, destroying stalls, warehouses and thousands of gourdes worth of merchandise belonging to small vendors. The merchants, many already living with the economic toll of repeated market fires across Haiti, issued an ultimatum to authorities: assist by Saturday or face roadblocks in protest.

The fire started around 10 p.m. on Dec. 10 and kept spreading into midmorning Dec. 11, despite multiple fire trucks arriving and facing difficulties in controlling the destructive blaze. Victims criticize the public market’s design, which lacks access roads for emergency vehicles.

“We are giving the authorities three days, until Saturday, to come and tell us what they plan to do with us merchants, how they intend to repair and reopen the market,” a vendor said through tears, speaking with The Haitian Times on condition of anonymity due to fear of persecution, as they all did.

“ Otherwise, we will block the road. [Each time a fire breaks out], we are on our own. When we lose everything, no one comes to help us.”

Authorities have not identified the cause of the fire, and no government officials — including from the Delmas mayor’s office — have visited the scene, issued a statement, or launched an investigation. By Thursday morning, Dec. 11, vendors picked through ashes and twisted metal, some weeping or standing in stunned silence, hoping to salvage anything from the wreckage.

A pattern of fires in Haiti’s public markets and total losses for merchants

Merchants say this is the third time the Dumornay Market has burned. Fires routinely devastate major public markets across Haiti — from Croix-des-Bossales to Pétion-Ville, La Saline, Croix-des-Bouquets, Tabarre and Pont-Sondé, and from Jérémie to Gonaïves and Cap-Haïtien — wiping out the capital base of small traders who depend entirely on informal commerce to support their families. Many rely on informal rotating savings systems or high-interest bank loans to buy goods, leaving them unable to recover after each loss.

Firefighters struggled to contain the flames at Delmas 33 Dumornay Market because its narrow corridors left no access for fire trucks, a common structural flaw in Haitian market design.

Clothing stalls, food depots, cosmetic workshops, rice warehouses, luggage stands, shoe shops and dozens of other small businesses burned completely. By sunrise Thursday, only metal sheets, charred walls and bent iron frames remained.

“The little we have comes from loans,” a woman said.

 “Now everything is gone. We haven’t seen a single government official,” she lamented. 

Authorities have not provided a damage estimate. Vendors say all merchandise stored inside the market — food products, cosmetics, fabric, kitchen supplies and more — was lost. Smoke, debris and pockets of fire were still visible in several sections.

The vendors insist the government must act quickly or face large-scale demonstrations.

“We are tired,” another vendor said. “We cannot survive if every time we rebuild our business, a fire returns to take everything.”

As they waited for a government response, some attempted to salvage items such as canned goods, butter and vinegar from waterlogged boxes scattered across the debris.

Here are some images of the damage caused by the fire that broke out at Dumornay Public Market in Delmas 33, Port-au-Prince:

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