Ministry knew of useless salt water mains

This was revealed by Fire Services Public Relations Officer John Springle in an interview yesterday.

Springle told Newsday that as early as January 10 this year, another proposal was sent to the ministry requesting 360 of the 602 fire hydrants in Port-of-Spain, which are more than 25 years old, be replaced because they were either rotted or shattered at the base.

He said only after the fire on Saturday, which destroyed several business places and resulted in more than $35 million in damages, the ministry officials referred to the proposal, and promised to put things in place to deal with the situation.

Springle said that some attention must be paid to safety in the country, and and not only safety from the Fire Services, but for citizens themselves to make efforts to protect their investments by ensuring that fire extinguishers, sprinkler systems, fire and smoke alarms are installed.

"We in the Fire Service are not going to abdicate our responsibilty for what happened on Saturday, but we resolve to work harder with the existing resources," he said.

Chief Fire Officer Lennox Alfred met yesterday with Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of National Security, Anthony Bartholomew, to discuss the proposals sent in January.

Alfred could not be reached for comment yesterday.

Springle also revealed that during the Excellent City fire in 2001, fire officers were hampered by a lack of water due to non-functional fire hydrants and the poorly functioning saltwater mains.

The saltwater mains in the city are located south of South Quay, to the east of Duncan Street, to the north of Oxford Street and to the west of Duke and Flament Streets.

Springle said that on Saturday, when the salt water mains failed, fire fighters used two trailer pumps near the port to pump salt water to the scene of the fire.

He said the fire at the People’s Mall was contained, but embers ended up on the roof of others buildings because of the wind.

This sparked the fire on that section of Frederick Street. The fire hydrants near the fire were found to be vandalised and not working.