Minister of Disaster Risk Management: Area Reps Will Have to Help Villages with No Fire Engines

Orlando Habet

On Monday, two families in Seine Bight Village lost everything they owned when a fire mysteriously started in a bedroom of one of the houses and spread quickly through the yard. In the process, two other houses were also damaged. One of the fire victims told us that because the village does not have its own firefighting capabilities, valuable time was lost while the nearest fire engine based in Placencia Village was making its way there. Rosendo Requeña appealed to the powers that be for a fire truck for Seine Bight. Today, News Five asked the Minister responsible for Disaster Risk Management, Orlando Habet, what can be done to put those communities in a better position to fight fires.

Orlando Habet, Minister of Disaster Risk Management

“What we are thinking is that, especially for large villages, in the case of Seine Bight being a tourism area, that we can have smaller vehicles that are mobile, maybe even like a large – not exactly a fire truck but maybe something like a large four-wheeler that can have a pump with a hose and go and see if water is available, you connect up and you start to out the fire while the larger fire engine comes in to assist. I am doing the same thing in my constituency. I think what we have to do is to speak to the area representatives who are responsible for these communities to see how we can collaborate with them. It has to be a joint effort.”