The Tribune

DENISE MAYCOCK

Tribune Freeport Reporter

dmaycock@tribunemedia.net

WITH over 50 power poles destroyed by massive bushfires that threatened many properties across East Grand Bahama, Free National Movement members of Parliament are calling for additional firefighting resources and manpower in Grand Bahama.

While speaking in the House of Assembly on Wednesday, FNM Leader Michael Pintard and East Grand Bahama MP Kwasi Thompson highlighted the terrifying bushfire incidents that they and residents have experienced in Grand Bahama.

“Today, Family Island communities continue to struggle with the scourge of bushfires,” Mr Pintard said. “The hardship we face is in being able to manage or put out these fires.”

“We would have seen in Grand Bahama over the course of the last several days a number of our residents who have been struggling to save their homes.”

Mr Pintard said parliamentarians who were in Grand Bahama at the time, including the MP for East Grand Bahama and the MP for Central Grand Bahama, joined residents in wetting their properties and assisting firefighters in saving homes that were being threatened on Monday and Tuesday.

The lack of firefighting resources in Grand Bahama was raised by concerned residents and members of the FNM over a month ago after it was discovered that none of the five fire trucks at the Fire Department was operational. Officials have since said the situation has changed.

 During his contribution to the House, Mr Thompson detailed the harrowing ordeal and extent of the damage he and many residents experienced on Monday and Tuesday while battling flames, including fireballs reaching 20 feet high.

The Grand Bahama Power Company lost 53 poles that were damaged due to the fire, which caused power outages in several of the affected subdivisions in Midshipman, Churchill, Acardia, and Fortune Point. 

“It was painfully clear that because of the season and because of the intense wind, we need to have additional fire resources in Grand Bahama,” he said. “It is without question. We must have additional fire resources in Grand Bahama.”

“We fail, they fail. All of us have failed in terms of assisting and ensuring that there have been sufficient operational resources. We all must take responsibility for that failure.

“I am sure moving forward there are going to be additional fires, additional wind, and we must have those additional resources, additional fire trucks, and manpower. We must have that additional manpower on the ground to assist in fires.”

Mr Thompson emphasised the need to organise a volunteer firefighting programme, using water tanker trucks from industrial sectors, which played a major role in assisting with extinguishing the fires.

“There were two in particular on the ground, and they were able to get into areas the big fire trucks could not reach to assist residents. And when the big fire trucks were fighting elsewhere, they were able to assist,” he said.

“We should organise those situations so that if we have, God forbid, another day like the day before yesterday, we have volunteer firefighters who can use these tanker trucks to assist in making sure they supplement what is happening on the ground.”

“We must do a better job in advising residents on what should be done and have the Fire Department provide necessary information for them. A lot of what took place was out of panic and sheer fear. Understandable fear because if you see a 20-foot fireball right beside your gate, you are going to be fearful about what should happen.”

Mr Thompson said residents should know to create at least a firebreak by clearing away brush near their fences, which could provide some additional protection to keep the fire away from their properties.

“I saw in one area in Midshipman where the fire walked from the bush, travelled along the grass, and came right up to the person’s house,” he recalled.

Mr Thompson noted that there were two fire trucks — one brought in from New Providence and one that was already in Grand Bahama and repaired — along with the airport truck, which was in full-time operation on Monday and Tuesday.

He said the airport truck, which is designated for airport emergencies, had to move back and forth between fires and the airport.

“I asked the airport firefighter about the airport, and he said the airport is covered, and I just trust what he said. But that airport truck was on the ground full-time fighting fires,” Mr Thompson said.

The damaged and downed power lines caused power outages, disrupting water supply in the areas affected by the fires.

Mr Thompson said some residents had filled buckets of water to help their homes.

“This is not just a building, it is your family, all those things that make your family. This is your entire investment that people have been fighting to protect,” he said.

He also reported that the plastic water pipes installed at unoccupied properties by the Grand Bahama Utility Company had melted and caused water to leak in the Churchill Road area.

While in the East Beach Drive area on Tuesday, Mr Thompson said some people were still without power and water, including an elderly lady who had flames at her back gate.

“We had to get a generator to start the power so she could get some water. And we got the power and water on so we were able to wet the property line to protect it from coming any further,” he explained.

Mr Thompson indicated that a plan was put together by Mr Pintard and the MP for Marco City, supported by Shanendon Cartwright, MP for St Barnabas, which focuses on ensuring that there are necessary fire resources in Grand Bahama and throughout the Family Islands.

“What took place for two days, I understand how in California you could have lost so many homes,” he said, adding that the fire moved very quickly, especially in dry and windy conditions.

“I want to commend the residents and let them know we support them and stand shoulder to shoulder with them. We support the bill and what is being proposed, but we need and must have the necessary resources to fight these fires in Grand Bahama.”