BASSETERRE, St. Kitts - A major bush fire is being fought by members of the St. Kitts and Nevis Fire and Rescue Services Department which according to reports - stretches across more than 20 acres of land.
Information received by this publication suggests that the officers of the Department arrived on the scene at the Basseterre Valley Aquifer (south of the Kim Collins Highway) at about 1:45 p.m. and began working to contain and extinguish the blaze.
Acting Fire Chief Everette O’Garro told this publication that more than an hour and a half after their arrival, the team was still battling the fire.
He explained that due to the absence of access to fire-extinguishing mediums in that area, another extinguishing technique had to be deployed to contain the fire with a view to eventually choking it.
“Because we don’t have access to extinguishing mediums in this area, we have really had to use another method to deal with this fire. We have enlisted the help of SKLEC and a backhoe and what we are doing is creating fire breaks.
“This is where any debris, shrubs etc is cleared away so that the fire would eventually die out. So we are in the process of creating fire breaks around the fire so all combustibles around it would be removed.”
O’Garro informed that the fire stretches across at least a 30-acre space of land and it is expected that this method would yield success.
Should any difficulty be experienced, O’Garro explained, there are other options which can be explored.
The cause of the fire, he indicated, is unknown.
