FIRE officers were up to last night still attempting to contain a blaze at a store stocked up with Christmas items in San Fernando.

The fire which started around 2 p.m. gutted the variety store, called Christmas Central, located along Cipero Street. The store sold Christmas trees, toys and other items for the Christmas season along with household items. The Express was told that containers with Christmas items were offloaded weeks ago.

The fire started in the upper portion of the building which formerly housed Radica Trading. The store was a second outlet from a Debe store which sells winter clothing and other items.