Brush fires take heavy toll
BASSETERRE, St. Kitts - DESPITE there was a lockdown last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the St. Christopher and Nevis Fire and Rescue Services has reported an increase in the number of fires for 2020 compared to the previous year.
Data shows that there were 546 instances of fires reported for 2020 when compared with the 538 for 2019.
A deeper look into the data shows that there were 500 instances of wild land fires, which includes brush fires that were recorded by the Fire Service; an increase over the previous year’s 452.
Cayon, Challengers, and New Guinea in the area of the boatyard, were highlighted as the most troubled areas that the Fire Service had to deal with a large percentage of brush fires for 2020 in St. Kitts.
“Those three areas are the locations where we have most of the causes [of wild land fires] annually,” Fire Officer Williams told SKNVibes News.
The Fire Department has pointed to an increase in the number of instances where people would have been clearing their open land as being one of the causes for the uptick in wild land fires.
Fire Officer Williams also stated that the bulk of the fires would have occurred during the late February through May period, when conditions are usually drier.
“There is always an increase around that period,” he added. “We had fires on lands that are used for farming, and sometimes lands that have overgrown vegetation.”
In the case of structural or building fires, official statistics from the St. Christopher and Nevis Fire and Rescue Services shows that there was a bright spot, as there was a decrease in this area.
Official statistics also shows that there were 59 on record for 2019 and 46 in 2020.
The Fire Service has attributed this decrease to public education that was done over the two years in review.
“Between 2019 and 2020 we would have done a lot of fire prevention lectures and presentations to both business places and residential places. Additionally, the fact that persons were home as well, may very well have contributed to the decrease. Because persons were home they were able to monitor their surroundings, but most of it is attributed to the fact that there was an extra push in fire prevention,” explained Williams.
