B’s cleared by fire service

The top brass of the Barbados Fire Service has declared that it has no part in an ongoing five-month Government-imposed ban on operations at the B’s Recycling Plant.

Chief Fire Officer Errol Maynard on Tuesday told Barbados TODAY that an operation at the establishment at Cane Garden, St Thomas was completed some months ago and from the standpoint of his department, operations at the metal collection component of the plant could be cleared to continue.

He however noted that officials from the Environmental Health Division of the Ministry of Health and Wellness also had an interest in the matter, over which the fire department had no jurisdiction.

“I am not in a position to say why he cannot open. What I can say is that the fire service undertook an operation there a couple months ago and our portion of that project is over,” disclosed Maynard.

“We were comfortable that it is at a stage right now that we can manage it if something breaks out there and we communicated that to Mr Bynoe… but we were not the only entity with an interest in the particular project there. So ours is completed, I am not sure about the status of the others,” the Chief Fire Officer added.

The recycling plant was the scene of a massive fire in 2019 and during an inspection at the plant in April, Bynoe was ordered to immediately implement a short-term programme to reduce the likelihood of a serious fire.

At the time, Home Affairs Minister Wilfred Abrahams explained that the possibility of a fire remained an imminent threat and that further environmental assessments would be conducted 21 days later.

Still, just days ago in another section of the media, establishment owner Paul Bynoe declared he was at the end of the line, and after five months of dormancy at the metal depot, he had been forced to take the difficult decision of sending home staff. (KS)