Call for more fire, evacuation drills

A senior fire official is urging businesses across the island to hold fire and evacuation drills with their staff to prevent any potential tragedy.

Station Officer Roger Bourne of the Bridgetown Division of the Barbados Fire Service (BFS) made the call on Tuesday afternoon, after a suspected gas leak led to the evacuation of the Supreme Court Complex.

While many persons left the High Courts and the offices of the Registration Department after the initial order was given, Bourne said that as firemen made sweeps of the various floors, they had to trigger the fire alarm to ensure that people found still loitering left the building quickly.

“This is not the norm, but going forward I would expect that the registrar and the court officers will come together and have a fire drill so that people will become aware of what they have to do, where they have to go and what to expect in terms of whenever they hear the fire alarm go off,” Bourne said.

He added that the BFS was in consultation with these individuals to discuss how best to proceed and “how best to look after those that work and visit the Registration Department on a daily basis to ensure that they are safe”.

Meanwhile, Bourne said an air quality test had shown no presence of lethal gases in the building. He said the “gas” smell that was reported was due to leaking compressed gas from within the hydraulic arm of the automatic doors.

Two tenders from the Bridgetown Division arrived on the scene around 1 p.m. to investigate the odour emanating in the Registration Department. (JB)