Fire & Ice

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Firemen averted what could have been a major catastrophe in the City this afternoon when the old ice factory in Mason Hall Street went up in flames. The alarm was raised around 1:43 p.m. that the building which is located in a very densely populated area, was on fire.

Although there was nothing significant inside the old factory and the adjoining building, employees from a nearby cleaning company kept a close eye on the blaze, which belched black smoke that could be seen as far away as Cave Hill, St. Michael.

It was that billowing smoke that prompted MP for the City of Bridgetown, Patrick Todd to visit to the scene. He told the media that he saw the thick smoke from the offices of the Ministry of Housing and Lands at Country Road and was concerned.

"The fire did not spread to neighbouring households. We are very happy that the emergency services were able to respond so quickly to avert a major catastrophe because as you would know this area is very densely populated with the avenues of Chapman Lane and Emmerton Lane to the west and to the east, avenues in the Cat's Castle, Mason Hall Street, Reed Street...

"I know that there is an adjoining business, a cleaning firm, and I'm happy that the fire did not spread significantly to that location in view of any chemicals that might be stored there and the fact that many employees would have been dislocated if the fire had destroyed that location," Todd said.

The Minister of State in the Ministry of Housing also said that a few days ago workmen had removed sheets of asbestos from the roof of the building that has been unoccupied for a number of years.

He noted that the Ministry of Housing and Lands, was planning to construct high rise project on the land that Government had recently acquired from the owners of the cleaning services.

"Negotiations with the current owner and Government are taking place in terms of completing that compulsory acquisition process and I know that the adjoining building which suffered damage by this fire is also a possible location for additional high rise housing solutions so that the Government would be very interested in the future of this land space as it looks to provide housing solutions for working Barbadians in the urban corridor where there is a scarcity of available land," Todd noted.

He also reiterated the need for Barbadians to have good fire prevention and safety habits.

Chief Fire Officer Wilfred Marshall told the media that he and 20 firefighters responded and were able to contain the blaze to that particular section, although it flared up again.

In addition to the four tenders, the ladder truck and water tanker were also used to battle the fire. He told the media that parked cars in the City always posed "a problem but we were able to get in early" and contain it. Scores of residents from nearby as well as onlookers were kept at bay by the police.

Investigations into the cause of the fire are continuing.

Source: news.barbadostoday.bb

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