The ancient county of Berbice recorded some four fires in six days according to the Fire Department there. This has caused the Divisional Commander to call on residents to take more precautions when it comes to managing items of flammable nature.
Divisional Commander Dwayne Scotland
According to Divisional Commander Dwayne Scotland, more fires are being caused as a result of carelessness, while outlining that only on Tuesday, there were two such fires in East Berbice and West Berbice respectively.
He called on homeowners to be more careful and act in a more responsible manner, noting that of the four fires, three homes were completely destroyed. In all, the Fire Police in Berbice have responded to 12 fires in less than one week.
“We have an increase in fires being started by some persons being careless. We have an increase for last year over the previous year of 57 per cent which is totally unacceptable. People need to be more cognizant of their environment and the way they operate. We have children playing with matches also at an increase. Parents leaving unattended and going and do whatever they want to do and the child has free time and finds some ways of making use of their time. Most of the time they want to play with matches or they want to experiment with fire,” Scotland noted.
The scorched building in East Canje on Monday
On Monday, a Bath Settlement, West Berbice woman went to a nearby shop while cooking and locked her three young children in the house. It was a neighbour who broke in and saved their lives after the kerosene oil stove went up in flames. While, East Berbice neighbours formed a bucket brigade and prevented extensive damage to a building situated at lot 121 New Street Cumberland, East Canje.
At the time, four children were alone at home, the eldest being 15 when one of the younger ones started to experiment with matches.
Ronnie Glasgow, one of the occupants, related to this publication that matches are not normally kept in their house but on Monday evening, they were given three boxes and accepted it. He said he was a short distance away working when he got the message but by the time he got home, neighbours had already put out the blaze with damages to the lower flat including the ceiling and furniture.
Destruction to the building at Bath Settlement on Monday
Meanwhile, one resident reported that the fire tender had difficulties responding as a bar has been erected across the street. Firefighters had to use shears to cut the padlock before passing.
On Sunday, the Fire Service also responded to a fire in Tucburg, New Amsterdam. The building was totally destroyed. According to Scotland’s investigations, someone left an electrical fan unattended and it overheated. The flames caught on combustible material and eventually spread throughout the building. At the time, no one was at home.
The owner is overseas and had put a caretaker to live in the house.
Scotland says persons must take more care of their children’s affairs and ensure that they are always supervised.
