Fire hydrant goes missing in Sav

Karrie Williams, Gleaner Writer

WESTERN BUREAU:

Head of the Westmoreland Fire Department, Morine Thompson, has questioned the disappearance of a fire hydrant along Seaton Street in Savanna-la-Mar, saying that it went missing during works sanctioned by a councillor from the Westmoreland Parish Council.

Thompson made the allegation while addressing the monthly meeting of the Westmoreland Parish Council, held in Savanna-la-Mar recently. According to Thompson, the hydrant, which was stationed on Seaton Street in Savanna-la-Mar, was "either destroyed or removed when work was being done there by Councillor (Devon) Thomas," representative for the Savanna-la-Mar North division.

But Thompson's allegation did not go down well with chairman of the parish council and mayor of Savanna-la-Mar, Bertel Moore, who, along with other councillors, refuted Thompson's timeline of when the hydrant disappeared.

"You said you are sure the hydrant was there, but are you sure that it was taken out during the period that the work was going on?" asked Moore.

An adamant Thompson replied: "The moment the work started there, that is when we could safely say that the hydrant went missing. "We are investigating, and based on the GPS mapping that was done late October of 2012 and early 2013, the hydrant was there - and very recently - before the work that was done there."

Her response did not satisfy the mayor, who repeated the question. However, Thompson stood her ground, adding that the hydrant was a tool of the fire department's trade and GPS mapping done in 2012 and 2013 and up to the time of the work being undertaken showed that the hydrant was there.

Expertise required

Councillor for the Little London division, Earl Brooks, intervened, making the point that if a hydrant was to be removed, it would have to be someone who had knowledge of how hydrants operated to remove it.

To this, Thompson responded that whoever removed the hydrant could have acquired the technical expertise.

In the end, there was no resolution reached on the matter and Thompson pledged to submit a full report on the matter to the next council meeting.