Grass fires to spread faster as heat, winds intensify, fire chief warns

A surge in heat and persistent high winds is set to accelerate the spread and intensity of grass fires across the island, placing mounting pressure on firefighters and increasing risks to homes, livestock and public health, the fire chief has warned.

Chief Fire Officer Errol Maynard on Monday cautioned that as the days get warmer, the intensity of heat from a blaze will rise while the current high winds will cause any grass or rubbish fires to spread faster and wider.

Although the fire service has moved to ease the increasing challenges of the heatwave to firefighters, he made an impassioned appeal to Barbadians to stop burning any type of rubbish at this time.

Chief Fire Officer Errol Maynard. (File Photo)

He told Barbados TODAY: “I am not convinced that the fires are starting because the place is hot. The fires are starting because people light these fires. What will happen is that the intensity of the fire, because the place is hotter, it is dry, so you will get a lot more grass fires during this period. It is hot and brown, so the intensity of the fire will increase, and the high winds that you are getting in recent times, the rate of the spread of the fire will also increase.” 

“It is a challenge, but it is not only a challenge on the men, it is a challenge on the personnel, it is a challenge on the resources that we have, the equipment, the trucks on the road. We have had a few instances where a few properties were damaged because of grass blowing into them and catching afire.”

“It is a challenge any time you are getting a lot of fires, it will be taxing on the individuals, because, extra heat, will affect firefighters’ capacity to recover…because fires are like any other human beings; while they might have equipment and are trained, they are like any other human being, and therefore, what impact on another human being, would impact on them. Then you would have it impacting on the individuals as they fight the fire.”

Maynard expressed particular concern about the level of impact the expected increase in brush fires will have on householders.

“You will get more smoke; the larger fires impact the communities. We have had a school in the north that had to be closed in excess of two days, and on some occasions you had schools in the east, in St Philip that had to be closed. So, while it would have a physical bearing on the fire officers because of the number of fires they have to go to in this short space of time, it is also impacting the health of those in communities. You have to breathe in the smoke.”

The fire chief noted that the fires are forcing schools to close, causing children to lose a lot of teaching and learning time.

“People’s livelihoods and way of life are being impacted. I think in St Lucy just recently, a couple animals were destroyed by fire within a grass piece. I think there were a couple sheep. So, it’s not only the impact on the fire service, it’s the impact on the total community. And some of the grass that is being burnt, is grass that people need for their animals.”

He issued a stern message to Barbadians regarding the role they can play in halting the rate of fires:

“When you light fires…because the place is really dry, the embers may blow far away, go into a dry field, burn it, and you might not even know that you spread the fire, or you caused a fire. The other thing is, because the wind is high, and you are not skilled to do it, when you light a fire, it can easily get out of control, and that can cause significant problems for other people, and you might not even want to admit you caused it. But then it destroys other people’s property and impacts other people’s health.”

He continued: “So, we are seriously concerned about it. So, we would really like to see Barbadians refrain from having open flames. You might have a small lot you think rodents might be in, and you might be trying to get rid of the rodents; or you might want to clear a little lot to do a little gardening. But at this time, it is advisable not to burn.”

The chief fire officer then turned his attention to the fire service’s plans to make his officers’ jobs much easier as they go on duty amid the excessive heat.

Mitigation plans were in place for some time now after they recognised that the climate was getting increasingly hotter every year, he said. 

“As far back as probably 2000, we recognised that things were getting hotter, not to this extent, but things were getting hotter; and what we did then, and what we continue to do, is give the guys options of training at night…some of them did certain activities that traditionally were done in the day.”

To beat the heat, the fire service has shifted the timing of its recruitment sessions.

“Those officers would do more lectures during the day, and more of the practical exercises where possible, during the evening or early morning when it is much cooler.”

The fire chief also revealed that ice machines have been installed at all fire stations to make sure the officers can have cool water to drink.

Provision has also been made for firefighters to take ice-cold drinks onboard fire tenders when on duty, he revealed.

“When they are out there, and they are out there for a certain amount of time, we get rehabilitation for them. So, they would call back in to the commanding officer and the commanding officer would recognise that they have been out there for a while and he will send smoke type refreshments; anything to help them to what we call rehab, when they are out there in the field.”

Maynard stressed that while the department tries to help the officers avoid as much of the sun as possible, it cannot tell them not to wear their personal protective equipment when attending fires.”

Maynard explained: “They go to the fires with the personal protective equipment; and once they are not in the hot zone, they are allowed to take off some of it to a certain point to cool down. So, we have been doing training and we have been doing this for a while.” 

“So, we, generally, would see what is best practices in the industry. In all that doing, we still have to make sure they are safe. Fire officers understand, based on their training, that they are in the heat.”

(EJ)