Senior Reporter
otto.carrington@cnc3.co.tt
An attempt by employees to remove a beehive sparked a $13 million fire in Chaguaramas yesterday.
Fire officials confirmed that employees at the Caribbean Dockyard (Caridoc) compound on Western Main Road, Chaguaramas, tried to remove the beehive using fire, which sparked the blaze.
The fire began after 8 am on Friday, with flames rising just behind the perimeter fence of the dockyard.
According to fire officials, fire tenders from the Chaguaramas and Four Roads fire stations were the first responders, with support from the Wrightson Road headquarters.
Speaking to Guardian Media, Assistant Chief Fire Officer Earl Sampson said that while the fire was under control, dealing with the materials that were stored on the site made the operation challenging.
We are dealing with risers constructed from fibreglass, used by oil companies during drilling,” he explained.
He said the insulation materials involved made the operation more complex.
Sampson also said it was the first use of a new piece of equipment by the Trinidad and Tobago Fire Service.
“In our operation, a new piece of apparatus has been added to our assets, known as the Hytrans System. It’s a high-volume piece of apparatus. Right now, we are pulling water from the sea, so we have no issues with water,” he said.
As the fire raged, part of the Western Main Road had to be cordoned off.
Sampson noted, “We blocked off the road because the wind direction keeps changing. We did this to prevent cars from passing through as the smoke is extremely harmful to the lungs and respiratory system. We have some breathing apparatus on-site, though not as many as we would have liked. The operation is in place, the command system is in place, and we are operating upwind of the situation.”
The blaze took around four hours to extinguish.