The Fire Service has refuted allegations that it arrived at the Newtown fire scene late, stating that its officers arrived at the scene 20 minutes after receiving the news of a fire outbreak.
Reginald Burke, owner of a building devastated by the fire accused firefighters of arriving nearly one hour after a call was put across to them. But Acting Deputy Chief Fire Officer, Wayne Letang, said his men reached the scene within 20 minutes.
Letang said the fire service has only two fire trucks which were already deployed to combat a bush fire around Roseau when the first call about the Newtown fire came. He said the first caller said it was a bush fire, but 10 minutes later another frantic caller disclosed it was a building fire which had extended to some parked vehicles.
“When we got the call, they were actually at another fire and we proceeded to have one person go to that fire, the one at Victoria Street,” Letang explained. “I wouldn’t say that we got there late because when the first call came at 2:30pm and we left the fire scene where we were, the first truck arrived at Victoria Street just about 2:50pm.”
The acting deputy chief fire officer stated that the two fire trucks owned by the fire service had been fighting bush fires for close to a month now, and could hardly be seen parked in the premises of the fire department. He said the Newtown fire outbreak and that of Victoria Street were part of the reasons that the department had been condemning the burning of debris openly in Dominica. Letang reported that the Newtown fire started at a nearby beach where debris was being burnt before it spread to Burke’s property where the building, an auto mechanic workshop, and 11 vehicles were razed down. He stressed that constant bush fires puts a strain on the fire department’s resources and that people everywhere must put a stop to openly burning debris or being careless with open fires.
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