In Windsor, St Ann, where homes are still roofless and trees lie broken along the roadside, one local landmark survived the terrifying Hurricane Melissa: the famous Firewater Healing Spring.
Speaking to Barbados TODAY on Sunday, Kevin, a resident of Windsor Road and one of the operators of the local attraction, said the storm hit the small community hard, but maintained that the rejuvenating power of the spring remains unaffected.
He admitted, however, that assistance is needed to return the pool’s surroundings to its former beauty.
“Melissa pass through the place and give we a big jerk up because you know nuff people used to come to Firewater, and since the place get the jerk up, it rough pon the community,” he said. “We want some help to let the place go back pon it foot.”
He said that even though the surroundings were damaged, the spring, long known for its warm, mineral-rich water and unusual ability to catch fire, remains active.
“What we have here in Windsor is a healing water from the inner core of the earth,” he shared. “Warm, salty and bitter and good for all aches and pains, circulation, swelling of the skin, headache, backache, stress, allergies, sunburn, glaucoma, arthritis, any problems you have. You get into that water, you come out rejuvenated.”
Despite the storm’s damage, Kevin said the spring’s flames still rise.
“I can light it and the fire still blazing,” he said. “If I want to cook a pot on it right now, I just go and cook on it. Firewater still up and running even though Melissa give we a big shake up and break down. All we have to do is clean up the place.”
Sharing its history, Kevin said the spring was discovered by his great-grandmother when she was 15.
“She was trying to burn away a wasp nest from a citrus tree that was here, and the fire sparkle drop in the water and ignite it,” he said. “She run go tell her parents that ghosts deh down here because the water was on fire. Her parents tell her no, this is where the ancestors came and got their healing whenever they got wounded.”
He said scientists visited the site in 1982 to study the phenomenon.
“They were drilling it to 15 500 feet down looking for oil and gas but didn’t find any,” he recalled. “All they discovered in this water was magnesium, zinc, potassium, calcium – all the minerals coming from the inner parts of the world.”
Kevin said that with a bit of help to clean up and restore the area, the site could once again attract visitors.
“Firewater still up and running,” he said. “We just need the place fix up back so people can start come again.”
(SM)
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