May Pen needs additional fire units

Days after a roaring fire engulfed the May Pen Market in Clarendon, residents continue to express concerns surrounding the reliability of fire trucks in the parish.

A single unit made efforts to contain the fire, but it was not enough to contain the fire that reduced over 60 vendors’ livelihood to ashes.

When The Gleaner visited the May Pen Fire Department’s Brooks Avenue office, head of the facility, Acting Deputy Superintendent Orrett Barnswell said there is a need for more units in Clarendon.

He said that Clarendon currently has three units, noting that two of them are stationed at May Pen and the other at the Frankfield Fire Station.

“I believe we could use additional units,” Barnswell said. However, while all units are fully operational, only two units are for active firefighting purposes, he said, noting that one is reserved as a water supplier.

“One unit is like a tank for ­whenever we need water. That unit is not for active firefighting. The limited number of fire units is not the only issue impeding the fire team’s productivity, but the water supply in some areas usually poses a hurdle, “ he said.

“In the more rural areas we would have a problem, like Chapleton, where the water isn’t sufficient,” he said.

Barnswell said the fires they have battled in recent times have been the worst his team has ­battled over the last few years

“It has been the worst fire we have had over the last years in the market. (As a result) we also sought assistance from private water trucks,”; he said, adding that the team also looked to assistance from the Old Harbour Fire Department in St Catherine.

Speaking on the reliance of hydrants, Barnswell said they are helpful but not always reliable, owing to low water supply.

He said there is a fire hydrant in the market but the pressure is weak, “too weak to full the truck so we had to use the one at the post office,” he said, in reference to another hydrant approximately 250 metres away.

He said that investigations into the market fire are still ongoing, but preliminary assessments ­suggest the damage stands at over $80 million.