‘Do not burn’
Fire chief urges caution amid dry conditions
Published:Thursday | March 16, 2023 | 12:46 AMHopeton Bucknor/Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
Assistant Superin-tendent Donovan McLaren, who oversees fire prevention at the St James Division of the Jamaica Fire Brigade, is appealing to the public to take extra precautions when lighting fires to avoid bushfires, which is increasingly becoming a problem in the western parish.
Since the start of the year, several properties in the parish have been lost to bushfires, which have also wiped out animals, crops, and fruit tree, especially in the predominantly farming areas.
“It is a fact that we are seeing an increase in bushfires due to the current drought condition that the island is experiencing,” said McLaren. “Since January of this year, the St James Fire Department has responded to more than 150 bushfires, and on any given day, the department is alerted to as many as 15 bushfires.
“What we need to be aware of is that at midday, grass, especially, is close to ignition temperature, so any form of additional heat can always start a fire,” added McLaren.
McLaren is urging householders to dispose of their garbage in a responsible manner.
“We find that persons might not be getting proper garbage collection, so they will burn their garbage, and once it is windy, you will find that the fire can easily get out of control. Persons must never light a fire on a windy day, and if you are going to do any form of burning, it must be confined burning,” said McLaren.
“There is also the case of persons lighting their cigarettes and then discarding the butts improperly. Those will also cause major bushfires, so we are asking smokers to dispose of cigarettes in the proper manner and not just flick it out [of] your window into the grass,” added McLaren.
The St James fire chief also wants farmers not to light fires to clear farms or burn weeds as this practice has accounted for most of the bushfires across western Jamaica this year.
“Farmers need to look seriously at stopping the practice of slash and burning. The safer option is to use the grass for mulching,” the firefighter said.
“One of the things that we have noticed,” he added, “is that persons clearing land are using bamboo and old tyres, but once the bamboo starts to burn, and once the gas is built up in the bamboo joints, they will explode with the fire, and that will spread the fire beyond any break that you have put in place, so in this time, all I can say to persons is do not burn,” warned McLaren.