Fire chief reports reduction in blazes

Two months after expressing concern about a spike in fires for the first few months of the year, Chief Fire Officer Errol Maynard is reporting the situation is turning around.

On Tuesday, he said that despite continued dry conditions, the number of fires is on the decline.

The fire chief attributed this to the increased rainfall over the past several weeks.

“At the beginning of the year, we had a significant increase in fires. I think I reported sometime mid-year that thus far for the year, we had more fires than we had for the entire of last year. But in the last three to four months, there was a significant decrease in the amount of fires we recorded,” he said.

“We have a lot more rain and a lot of the grass has been burnt already. There is only [so much] grass we have on Barbados that can burn. So a lot of it has been burnt already and now we get the rain, so what is there is green so it is natural that the amount of fires will reduce.”

In mid-June, Maynard reported at a press conference that there had been well over 700 fires for the first five months of the year, compared to just over 600 for all of 2022. Those included 37 house fires, over 500 grass fires, and more than 20 rubbish fires.

Maynard said the majority of grass fires were in the parishes of St Philip, St John and the southern parts of Christ Church.

He said that despite the recent reduction in fires, the Fire Service remained vigilant.

“Today could be pretty free and clear and tomorrow could be problematic, so I wouldn’t say that we have passed the worst. I would like to believe that with the rain, the reduction will be maintained,” Maynard said.

(MM)