A probe will be conducted into the circumstances that led to a fire tender at the scene of a wild blaze in a canefield at Locust Hall, St George being burnt to a shell on Monday.
The driver suffered minor injuries.
Acting Chief Fire Officer Henderson Patrick, though satisfied that the remaining three officers were not hurt, said the unfortunate loss would put a strain on the resources of the Barbados Fire Service (BFS).
And Minister of Home Affairs Wilfred Abrahams who visited the scene told reporters, “there are a lot of questions that need to be answered”.
“I am going to await a full report on this to find out exactly what happened before making any formal comment on it, but it does deplete the resources available to the Fire Service to answer emergencies.”
He shifted his attention to the well being of the officers, saying that was his immediate concern at the time.
According to Patrick, the fire was reported around 10:32 a.m. and a distress call from an officer about the engulfed appliance came in at approximately 12:55 p.m.
The acting fire chief said: “As you can see, the fire has really ravished the entire field. The officers, in an attempt to bring the fire under control, met the conditions where the wind would have taken a lot of the trash and blew it in the direction of the fire truck which would have resulted in the situation that we have right now.
“What was fortunate in the whole incident, however, is that there were no major injuries. The officer who was driving the appliance just reported some minor burns to his right hand,” he disclosed, noting that the officer sought medical treatment.
The senior official who acknowledged that this was likely the first time the BFS had lost a tender to fire, said the destroyed appliance was among 25 in active duty.
“It is unfortunate that this incident has occurred, and it is something that we often guard against because what it does is that it reduces the capacity that we have and we are already at a stage where these vehicles are ageing. And right now, we have to give some consideration as to how we’re going to manage without the use of this appliance,” Patrick said.
He noted that the destroyed appliance was over 20 years old, and while he could not give a value since it would have depreciated over years, said the replacement cost for a new truck is likely to be in the region of $1.2 million.
Minister Abrahams and Patrick revealed that the BFS is awaiting the arrival of three new appliances in the coming months.
“So there are three appliances on the way which we would have ordered. They’re due to be delivered sometime later this year. So we are going to probably see if we can get them in even faster, but hopefully we should not be under-resourced for too long…but we’re still gonna have to replace this one,” Minister Abrahams said.
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