Be Careful!
The top official in the Barbados Fire Service is calling on Barbadians to be extra careful this year in an effort to reduce the number of fires to which the Service has had to respond in recent times.
Speaking with the Barbados Advocate yesterday morning, Chief Fire Officer Wilfred Marshall said they are hoping that more persons will take the fire prevention measures which the Service has been promoting to heart, because they were seeing too many fires which could have been easily avoided.
He noted that the last few years have been quite challenging for the Service with last year recording a large number of fires, particularly, grass fires. He revealed that up to January 6, the Service responded to some 23 fires across the island for the year, but he remained hopeful that the numbers would not reach those recorded for January 2010, which stood at approximately 452.
“I cannot say that it is quite the dry season as yet, but this is the time of year that we see a large number of grass and rubbish fires, but we are really wishing that there is not as high a response this year as there was last year and in previous years. So we are appealing to Barbadians to be careful overall,” he said.
Barbados recorded more than 2 500 fires in all last year, up from 1 990 recorded for 2009, with increases in the categories of private dwelling houses, commercial buildings, as well as grass and sugar cane fires among others.
Meanwhile, he said that it has been a smooth transition for the headquarters of the Barbados Fire Service to its temporary locations, while the anticipated repairs are conducted on the Probyn Street building over the next seven weeks.
Chief Marshall said that the Operations Section of Fire Service Headquarters has been working out of its temporarily home at the former Glendairy Prison in Station Hill since Sunday, January 9 and the Administrative Section began its work on the 5th Floor of the NIS Building on Fairchild Street yesterday morning. At the time he spoke to the Barbados Advocate, he said while the emergency 311 number was operational, they were still in the process of getting all the telephone lines working and expected to do so by the end of the day. (JRT)
Source: www.barbadosadvocate.com
Speaking with the Barbados Advocate yesterday morning, Chief Fire Officer Wilfred Marshall said they are hoping that more persons will take the fire prevention measures which the Service has been promoting to heart, because they were seeing too many fires which could have been easily avoided.
He noted that the last few years have been quite challenging for the Service with last year recording a large number of fires, particularly, grass fires. He revealed that up to January 6, the Service responded to some 23 fires across the island for the year, but he remained hopeful that the numbers would not reach those recorded for January 2010, which stood at approximately 452.
“I cannot say that it is quite the dry season as yet, but this is the time of year that we see a large number of grass and rubbish fires, but we are really wishing that there is not as high a response this year as there was last year and in previous years. So we are appealing to Barbadians to be careful overall,” he said.
Barbados recorded more than 2 500 fires in all last year, up from 1 990 recorded for 2009, with increases in the categories of private dwelling houses, commercial buildings, as well as grass and sugar cane fires among others.
Meanwhile, he said that it has been a smooth transition for the headquarters of the Barbados Fire Service to its temporary locations, while the anticipated repairs are conducted on the Probyn Street building over the next seven weeks.
Chief Marshall said that the Operations Section of Fire Service Headquarters has been working out of its temporarily home at the former Glendairy Prison in Station Hill since Sunday, January 9 and the Administrative Section began its work on the 5th Floor of the NIS Building on Fairchild Street yesterday morning. At the time he spoke to the Barbados Advocate, he said while the emergency 311 number was operational, they were still in the process of getting all the telephone lines working and expected to do so by the end of the day. (JRT)
Source: www.barbadosadvocate.com
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