Fire Service to launch probe

THE Trinidad and Tobago Fire Services has launched an investigation into the fireworks display incident at Machel Montano’s Alternative Concept fete which left several people with burns to their bodies, Chief Fire Officer (CFO) Lennox Alfred said in a telephone interview yesterday. It has also put a hold on grating approvals for use of fireworks, pending the investigation.

The Fire Chief also said that there are reports that some of the fireworks may have been fired off from inside the crowd itself. Alfred also said the fireworks that went in another direction may have been a defective one, or an old type. “If it was a good one it should not have gone in the opposite direction,” Alfred stated. Because of these two possibilities, Alfred said there is a need to carry out an investigation to determine exactly what transpired at the fete held Saturday night at the Amphitheatre, Chaguaramas.

Alfred said there is a possibility that the Fireone Fireworks Limited, the company who he said got the approval to fire off the fireworks, may not be responsible for the mishap. None of the people in authority at the San Juan-based Fireone Fireworks Limited company could be reached for comment up to late evening.  They were said by a female receptionist to be “out on the field”. Marissa Lewis, 24, of Bellerand Street, Point Cumana, Carenage, was one of the victims affected by the mishap.  She was said by the police to have received the worst of the injuries, suffering second degree burns on her face. In a brief interview yesterday, Lewis told Newsday that she has spent thousands of dollars on medical bills, but that she is yet to receive any compensation from those responsible for the fireworks display.

Newsday had spoken to Lewis’ mother-in-law, Myrtle Sinnette, at their home on Sunday, and Sinnette indicated that the Montanos said they were going to compensate Lewis. Yesterday, however, Lewis told Newsday via telephone that she has spent a “good bit” of money thus far on medical bills.  Asked how much, she said: “Thousands”. Lewis, employed at Total Image, St Augustine, said she again visited a skin specialist yesterday.  She added that she may lose her left eye.
The young woman also described her face as “too terrible” to take any photographs and in an emotional voice, said: “I can’t speak about it anymore.”  The Chief Fire Officer also told Newsday that the Trinidad and Tobago Fire Services had no fire officers on duty on the night in question because the fireworks display was going to be brief.
The Montanos remained incommunicado up to late yesterday. However, William Munroe, promoter of the upcoming Soca Monarch said he is feeling the pain for Machel, whom he described as a super artiste.