BASSETERRE, St. Kitts - WITH regular calls to the Basseterre Branch of the St. Kitts and Nevis Fire Department to extinguish fires across the island, a man will soon face the heat of the law after admitting to igniting a fire that ravaged acres of land yesterday (June 28).
At about 10:09 a.m. - according to Acting Fire Chief Everette O’Garro - a unit from that branch responded to a report and it led them into the mountainside in the area north of the Ross University Veterinary School of Medicine.
He said the area which was lit is located west of the Wigley Farm, and when the unit arrived at the scene the fire had already spread and was out of control.
O’Garro explained that the appliance climbed the mountain to the furthest point of its reach and began working on quelling the fire.
Most of the fight - he explained - involved preventing the fire from spreading to a particular property and farm in that area; and in that regard, they were successful.
“The other areas where the fire had spread to were inaccessible to the fire appliance and because of that the fire spread towards the mountain and burnt its way eastward into the Mattingley area.”
The Acting Fire Chief said the officers spoke with one Lynval Herbert - “a farmer in the area” - who admitted to lighting the fire.
O’Garro also said that officers had to monitor the fire in excess of five hours.
The Fire Department has made repeated calls and issued countless warnings that fires ought not to be lit without proper permission and supervision, and O’Garro declared that action would be taken against defaulters.
“We intend to take appropriate action by reporting this incident to the authorities that they can take the appropriate action because we continue to warn people not to light fires without the proper authorisation, especially with the pre-existing weather conditions.
“We are again appealing to people - especially in those areas - to NOT light fires. People don’t seem to realise how easily fires could get out of control and cause serious damage to property and even loss of life.”
