Fire Service resources strained; Chief appeals to stop burning trash

Chief fire officer, Errol Maynard is once again appealing for residents to stop indiscriminate burning.

The head of the Barbados Fire Service reignited the call as fire officers battled grass fires islandwide for 48 hours. More than 16 fires occurred across the island on Monday, and seven occurred today, Tuesday, March 21.

“It has placed a significant strain on our resources, to the point that we had to bring the people that are working in the office out in the field,” said the fire chief.

With the human resources of the Fire Service stretched thin, Maynard told Loop News that consecutive fires, detracted from their ability to “appeal to the ones that really need urgent attention”.

While acknowledging that the Fire Service was understaffed with an existing complement of 210 officers, Maynard asked citizens to lighten their burden by properly disposing of garbage. He noted that some of the fires were due to the dry conditions islandwide, but several were manmade. .

“Stop the indiscriminate burning. There are other ways to solve your problems. There are other ways to clean your place. You can compost it, you can get the Sanitation [Service Authority to remove it or if you have the means, you can pay to remove some of the rubbish. . . . For sure, burning is not the solution,” he stressed.