Water Waste

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The little water that is available to Barbadians because of the current drought, is being depleted even more to fight fires.

Acting Chief Fire Officer Randolph Cox, who is currently on leave, wants people to be even more vigilant and protect the environment and natural resources by immediately reporting any suspicious looking individuals who may be setting brush fires. (Lloydson Phillips is the current acting Chief Fire Officer).

The Fire Service was again forced to respond to a number of brush fires yesterday and according to the Cox, the same water used to extinguish those blazes is water that should be flowing through taps.

"People must consider we are in a drought situation and we at the fire service use the same water they drink to fight fires. If this continues, we will suffer a serious water shortage in Barbados," he said.

Cox said a fire tender contained an average of 600 gallons of water. He said one tender usually responded to a grass fire, but often had to be refilled several times, noting as many as three tenders had been recorded responding to a grass fire.

Disturbing trend

A check with the Fire Service revealed there had been 15 grass fires up to 4:30 p.m. yesterday, mainly situated in Christ Church and St Philip, with one in St Thomas. This number is well past the total number of fires at the same time last year.

Cox said he was noticing a disturbing trend where grass fires seemed to spring back to life all by themselves.

"When fire officers respond to some fires they are forced to stay and let them burn out because if they put it out and leave, before they can get back to the station they are being called back to the same fire," he said.

Cox did not say that arson was responsible since according to him, he had no proof, but he said fires he had seen so far were being caused neither by "spontaneous combustion", nor due to sunlight being reflected through glass.

"The likelihood of that happening is miniscule, especially in light of the sheer number of fires we have been responding to. It's ridiculous, I don't even acknowledge it.

"I believe the public should report anyone whom they think is behaving suspiciously, if they see someone acting in a manner they should not be, or in a place where they ordinarily should not be, then call the police, do not wait until something happens," he said.

Cox said the police were always informed when they gathered information at any fire and said he personally believed anyone who started a fire, whether maliciously or not, which then caused damage to someone else's property, should be held legally liable.

Source: www.nationnews.com

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