Residents of Mayaro are concerned about the imminent danger posed to their lives and property by the absence of a fire tender at Mayaro Fire Station. The residents claimed there have been at least five house fires in the community in the last few months and as recent as a week ago when eight members of a family, including three children, escaped death in an arson attack.
Mayaro MP Rushton Paray said his inquiries revealed that about two months ago the fire tender was sent for repairs because of a leaking tank. While the Rio Claro Fire Service is servicing the area, he said, the problem was the response time due to the distance and the state of the roads.
He said residents had to form a bucket brigade to extinguish a house fire in Ortoire Village last month. “This is not 1923, this is 2023, and we are depending on bucket brigades to out fires in a very complex community like Mayaro.
Mayaro has a high thoroughfare of visitors on weekends. We do have a lot of beaches. We do have an industrial complex. We do have a complicated tourism restaurant sector, and when you do not have a service as a fire tender, that brings great concern to me,” said Paray.
Noting that there was usually an uptick in house fires due to indiscriminate use of electrical connections for Christmas trees and decorations, he called on National Security Minister Fitzgerald Hinds and Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley to urgently rectify this matter.
He said, “I have reached out to Minister Hinds on several occasions and he has advised me that his information states that the tender in Rio Claro can sufficiently service the entire community. I do not believe that is the case, and the proof is in the pudding.”
Fire victim Steve Bain recalled that when his home at Ortoire Village caught on fire last month, the fire truck from Rio Claro took about 45 minutes to arrive. Thankfully, he said, residents stepped in and formed a bucket brigade. However, he said, they had to use water from the nearby river as their tanks were dry since they had not received a water supply in a month.
“I could have lost my entire house if not for the visitors and young people around who formed a bucket brigade from the Ortoire River to keep the fire under control,” he said. Slamming the government for not “taking care of the people’s business,” he said, “Mayaro had a fire truck at the fire station where that fire truck went, we don’t know. So what is the purpose of having a fire station in Mayaro and no fire truck, no fire tender, no water on the lines. So what are we left to do. Are we left to picket the fire station? Are we left to block the roads? Again is this the only thing that the government understand.”
Mayaro Rio Claro Regional Corporation chairman Raymond Cozier also called on the minister and permanent secretary to do what is necessary to have a tender in Mayaro.
Fire Service Association president Leo Ramkissoon said there were several stations without a fire tender but, in the case of the Mayaro and Penal, he claimed the authorities failed to order a truck when they were building those stations.
“At the end of the day, the association is saying it is hugely unacceptable that any fire station should be without a fire truck, let alone a station like Mayaro with the whole eastern sea board to cover from Guayaguayare all the way up to Toco to Grande and environs. That is unacceptable. That community there is under enormous risk. Rio Claro is several miles away, over 20 miles away,” he said,
Ramkissoon noted that fires have claimed 15 lives and destroyed millions of dollars in property for this year, he again called for an inter-ministerial approach headed by the Prime Minister to expedite the procurement of fire trucks.
Attempts to reach Minister Hinds and Chief Fire Officer Arnold Bristo for a response were unsuccessful.
