Director of Fire Services Assistant Superintendent Jeffrey Deleveaux told reporters during a press briefing on Monday that officials were challenged over the weekend when responding to a total of 21 calls.
ASP Deleveaux described the influx as a “hell of a week.”
Among those fires posing a serious challenge to fire officials was the blaze at the Harrold Road dump, which continued to burn yesterday.
According to ASP Deleveaux, the fire at city dump started around 4:29pm on Friday, when a fire truck and three firefighters were immediately dispatched to the site.
However, as the firemen attempted to tackle the blaze a 55-gallon container of flammable oil exploded, hampering efforts to extinguish the fire.
ASP Deleveaux said that as a result of the explosion, the officers’ safety was compromised and the firemen were ordered to withdraw.
He said that high winds allowed the fire to spread to the entire southeastern section of the dump.
ASP Deleveuax said yesterday at the update that the fire has been contained and was in its “smoldering” phase. He assured that any concerns of the fire reaching other sections of the dump or spreading to other buildings have been addressed.
“A special team has been formulated and commenced April 30 and is presently at the dump site continuing operations in conjunction with environmental health personnel. They will continue until the fire is extinguished,” ASP Deleveuax said.
Seven men are currently stationed at the dump to monitor the site.
As for the residents in the Jubilee Gardens area, ASP Deleveaux requested that they remain patient as fire services attempted to control the smoke from circulating into that area.
“What we are doing now is attacking the area nearest to Jubilee Gardens that will cause lots of smoke to enter the community and we will progressively move in the south- easterly direction to extinguish the remainder. But they can be assured that we will not rest until that fire is completely extinguished,” ASP Deleveaux said.
The last major fire to occur at the city dump took two months to extinguish, ASP Deleveaux said.
He anticipates that the current fire could take up to three months to fully extinguish.
“It will happen again. [There is] nothing we can do to prevent these spontaneous combustions from occurring; however, we felt as if the environmental health department could play a more important role by ensuring that the garbage that is off loaded is placed in the appropriate landfills. It would result is less fires,” he said.
“If the environmental health persons who are stationed at the dump, if when they see a smoke pocket develop they would call fire services, we would go in and extinguish it. At this rate we will be able to keep the fire at a [minimum].”
The fire director also raised concerns over propane tanks being dumped in landfills, which he described as a threat to fire officials.
“These tanks should not be dumped in the area but there are persons who indiscriminately dump them anyway. These become missiles once they explode and can cause death, injuries or serious equipment damage,” ASP Deleveaux said.
While combating the fire at the dump, fire officials were called on to extinguish a brush fire in Gambier Village.
ASP Deleveaux said that the fire started on the main street in Gambier – Bay Street – and spread into the area of the homes.
That fire destroyed two vehicles that were parked in a garage.
In situations where there is more than one fire taking place at the same time, fire officials must prioritise their responses, said ASP Deleveaux.
“If the fire is not threatening property we will permit it to burn and then we will go to an area where the fire is threatening property. After extinguishing that fire then we would return to the area that was not threatening anything,” the fire director said.
The 49 fires that occurred last week included 10 building fires, three vehicle fires, seven bush fires, 12 rubbish fires, two electrical and one special service.
By: Bianca Symonette, The Bahama Journal
