The Barbados Fire Service is appealing to Barbadians to exercise more care and caution on the road.
Deputy Chief Fire Officer Henderson Patrick said not only were they responding to fires, but crews were also being called out to vehicular accidents – some of them mass casualty situations.
“People have to be very responsible when they are transporting individuals. We have to be cognisant of the fact that we are not the only road users. We recognise that persons’ lives are at stake when these incidents occur,” he said yesterday morning.
“Quite recently . . . we had at least two mass casualties. While we are thankful that the situation was not as bad as these things could be, we still appeal to people to exercise greater due care and attention when using our roads.”
On Tuesday, crews from the Fire Service were pressed into action at Foursquare, St Philip, where 20 people were injured in a collision involving a truck and a minibus.
There were also mass casualty situations at St Lawrence, Christ Church, earlier this year where 12 people were injured, and at Belle Road and Barker Road, St Michael, where 17 had to be treated.
There have been six road fatalities for 2025.
Patrick was speaking at the scene of a house fire at the corner of River Road and Prince William Street, The City. Fire broke out in one of the bedrooms on the northern side of the two-storey building. Two fire tenders were dispatched from the Bridgetown Port and Bridgetown Fire Station after the call came around 7:50 a.m. The fire was subsequently brought under control.
The homeowner declined to speak to the media.
Patrick was not sure if the house was insured as investigations were continuing.
“It is always a concern
for us whether these structures are insured or not, especially if it is a wooden structure. What we have discovered in the past is that 50 per cent of the structural fires that we responded to, especially the wooden structures, did not have insurance,” he noted.
“We would obviously like to see this situation improve because when these incidents occur, it’s a tremendous stress and burden on those people and those owners.
“We would at least like to see them in a position where they can get back to a state of normalcy in the fastest period of time.”
Meanwhile, the deputy fire chief said they were yet to recover the Jaws of Life that was stolen from Worthing Fire Station in April. The tool, which weighs more than 50 pounds and is valued in excess of $100 000, was taken from a fire truck.
“At present, we have not heard any word on that recovery. It, however, has not hindered us from performing the work that we have been called to do by the people of Barbados,” Patrick said.
At the time it went missing, Minister of Home Affairs Wilfred Abrahams called it a “reprehensible act” because it was the same equipment the Barbados Fire Service used to save lives. He appealed to anyone with information to come forward. (SAT)
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