BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – POSSIBLE improper assembly of an incinerator at the Joseph N. France General Hospital may have been the cause of a fire that occurred there this afternoon (Aug. 7).
Sometime this afternoon, a fire broke out in a room at the JNF compound which contains the equipment and, according to Fire Chief Everette O’Garro, a unit of the Basseterre Fire Department responded to a report of the fire at about 2:52 p.m.
The unit reportedly quickly extinguished the fire which was located in the roof of the building, situated on the western end of the compound.
O’Garro indicated that investigations revealed that the equipment, which was being used for the first time, was poorly assembled and may have been the cause of the fire.
“It appears that the exhaust pipe was set up poorly. The pipe got heated while the incinerator was being used. Due to the fact that it was set up through a board roof, heat apparently transferred from the exhaust to a section of the wooden roof that was in contact with the exhaust pipe, thus causing the wood in the roof around the exhaust to ignite.”
The fire officers were successful in preventing the fire from spreading and also from totally destroying the roof of the building within which the incinerator was housed.
