Chairman of Region Five, Vickchand Ramphal yesterday disclosed that some $6m had to be expended to fight a recent bush fire along the shoreline in the region which is suspected to have been maliciously set.
The bush fire ran along the shoreline in sections of the Bath/Woodley Park and Union/Naarstigheid neighbourhood democratic councils, and according to Ramphal, approximately $6m was spent to extinguish the fire that raged for over seven days resulting in damage to mangroves along the shoreline.
The chairman explained, “We had to have two excavators and six tractor-driven pumps pump water into the area to flood part of it so as to prevent the fire from spreading. The excavators were used to dig channels from the sea dam going towards the Atlantic, in some areas it assisted in bringing in water from the sea bank.”
Ramphal further disclosed, that “the entire flat out there that is covered under mangrove which extends over a mile from the sea dam is completely dry so it’s very easy for the fire to spread from one area to the next.”
He added, “We don’t have evidence to show that someone went and set the fire but from all indications, it must have had to be someone light the fire because there is no such reoccurrence in other parts of the coastline where there are mangroves.”
He said that several residents were also severely affected especially those persons suffering from respiratory illnesses. In some instances, there were reports of residents having to leave their homes to escape the smoke, while others sought medical attention.
Regional Vice Chairman, Rion Peters, who is also a Director on the Sea & River Defence Board, stated that several agencies including the RDC 5, GuySuCo, the Ministry of Public Works, and the Guyana Fire Service worked tirelessly on a 24-hour basis to ensure that the blaze was controlled and eventually extinguished.
Meanwhile, with the fire suspected to have been maliciously set given that there were no fires in other parts of the shoreline, Commander of Region 5’s Fire Service, Denbar Quintin pleaded with persons to desist from igniting fires especially where there might be dry grass or other flammable materials.
The regional officials are asking residents to report any signs of a bush fire promptly to the Guyana Fire Service, Region 5 Division on 328-2658/328-2425, Regional Chairman on 694-8382 or Regional Vice Chairman on 614-0079.
