Smoke, ash from morass fire blanket Negril

The resort town of Negril was again covered in a thick cloud of smoke and ash today, as the morass in the vicinity of the seven-mile beach which has frequently caught fire over the years, was again ablaze, forcing tourists to stay indoors.

Richard Wallace, managing director of Boardwalk Village Commerce, told The Gleaner that lack of proper firefighting equipment is making it difficult to fight the fire.

"The fire started yesterday but it got really bad this morning. It is not a good situation and I am sure we are going to have people that are sick that have respiratory problems,” Wallace said.

“Almost every year this happens. Whenever we have dry and windy conditions like we are having now, the morass usually catches fire and depending on where it starts, there's nothing that can be done about it because we don't have the firefighting equipment to fight a morass fire."

He added, "We have to wait until it burns out. The fire started maybe in the middle of the seven mile beach. First it was going northwards, then around Jam West, the waterpark and now it passed Sandals."

The morass has been a headache for environmentalists over the years, due to the frequency of fires.

Negril spans western Hanover and western Westmoreland, and today practically the entire area was covered in thick smoke and ash.

Wallace gives credit to the firemen trying to resolve the issue.

"The firemen can't go into the morass so they just have to stay on the periphery and stop any damage from happening. They have been doing a pretty good job with that,” Wallace said.

“I had to issue masks to all my staff. The whole place is a mess because of the soot. We are going to have a lot of cleaning up to do after this. You can't have food out. You can't have a meal because all the ash is blowing onto your food and into your drink. The beach is covered and the beach chairs have ash, so it is not a good situation.”

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