SVG records highest number of fires in 10 years

Head of the SVG Fire Service, superintendent of police, Joel James has issued a caution for Vincentians to be extremely careful when lighting fires, as this country records its highest number of fires over the last 10 years.

In an interview wit SEARCHLIGHT on Tuesday, April 26 James said the number of fires for the year so far is the highest they have ever been in the last 10 years.

The fire chief said that from January 2022, to the date of the interview, the Fire department had received 52 reports of fires, mostly on mainland St Vincent.

He said added to this figure, are the number of fires which go unreported.

Of the 52 fires in the first four months of the year, 15 of them were house fires.

Other types recorded thus far include bush fire, fires in vehicles and fires on utility poles.

The superintendent said during this time it is mostly very dry and windy, yet people light fires without any regard to the dangers they pose.

“Sometimes people clearing land and set the bush on fire, but the sparks fly and set a whole area on fire.

“We are always telling people not to set fires, but still they continue,” James said.

“Persons are very reckless, especially some young people who deliberately set fires to dry areas,” SOP James related.

The Fire chief made mention of a recent bush fire in Dorsetshire Hill, which spread quickly and ended up damaging two vehicles.

According to James, the sad thing about the entire situation is that persons who set bush fires are seldom caught.

Apart from being challenged with having to respond to so many fires, superintendent James said resources are being wasted on a number of prank calls to the fire department.

He said this has been going on for a long while and he is urging persons to stop making prank calls to the fire department.

“We are experiencing a lot of that now and this is so sad,” James commented.

Another challenge he noted is bad parking and bad driving, which delay the response time of the fire trucks when they are responding to fires.

He recalled that when they were responding to the fire in Lodge Village on the night of Saturday, April 23 a vehicle was parked on the narrow road, then a van stopped alongside the parked vehicle which delayed the fire truck’s arrival in that area of Lodge Village to put out the fire which destroyed the home of small businessman, Delarno Du Pont.

“When we got there, the fire was already fully developed,” James explained.

The seasoned fire fighter believes that “there are too many lawless persons in St Vincent and the Grenadines,” who set fires recklessly.

James also responded to allegations that sometimes, the fire trucks do not have water when they respond to fires.

“The trucks are always replenished before returning to the station, so how can they go out empty? He questioned.

James however noted that the trucks are limited in terms of their water storage capacity.

In 2019, the fire department did some sensitisation drives across the country.

“We went to areas, where many of the reported fires came from.

These areas include South Leeward, Prospect and Golden Vale.

In 2019, the number of fires from January to April stood at 38, in 2017, there were 44 reported fires for the same period.

These were the two other years with high numbers of reported fires.

James said the fire department is planning to continue its sensitisation this year with the hope of reaching those who set fires carelessly.

In order for us to control the number of fires in St Vincent and the Grenadines, we should all remember that “it only takes a spark, to get the fire going.”