Jacks Hill residents in line of fire

In the early hours of Wednesday morning, Robert Hall, assisted by relatives, was busy chopping down trees from around his home in Kingsworth, Jacks Hill, St Andrew, in an effort to prevent the raging fire that had started the day before from engulfing their home.

Hall told The Gleaner that they had watched anxiously Tuesday evening as the fire, aided by the wind, climbed through the hills, making its way closer and closer to their family home.

It was not the first such fire he had experienced. The St Andrew community had borne the brunt of many bushfires, mainly during the drought season of January to March, but the 42-year-old driver believes that they are progressively getting worse.

“It a serious ting. Yuh have a ting weh dem call climate change, Wi nuh tek it serious, and it real. So certain tings it betta yuh stop di problem before it happen,” he said.

Fewer bushfires

However, Commissioner of the Jamaica Fire Brigade Stewart Beckford said fewer bushfires have occurred this year compared to last year.

“This year is far better than what we saw last [year] in terms of the numbers and the magnitude of it, but it is still a concern of ours that we continue to see these fires in the hills,” he said.

He said these fires normally result from people clearing lands, burning garbage, or from people discarding cigarette butts when driving through the area.

“What we try to do is to sensitise dem and say, ‘Look! You can’t just flip a cigarette butt through your car window unless you know it’s going to land on the road itself’. Once you flick it into any bush or grass area, you don’t know the ground level ... that thing may be so dry, you may see green leaves about but underground may be so dry that once it lands in that area, it’s going to start a fire,” he said.

In addition to preparing its members for the recurrent fires, Beckford said the fire brigade has also been educating susceptible communities on fire prevention as well as training fire wardens.

“What we want to see is a reduction in what we are seeing, and I think with the appropriate plan and persons taking responsibility in the community where we are seeing these fires, taking responsibility as to how they burn, then I am sure we can see some reduction,” he said.

Errol Mitchell is planning on building fire trenches around his home to prevent any future fires from destroying his property.

Telling The Gleaner that the community sometimes goes days without having water, the 72-year-old, who had received training as a fire warden, said he is not taking any chances.

Made worse by wind

Meanwhile, a resident who gave her name only as GG, said Tuesday evening’s blaze was her second time experiencing a bushfire in Jacks Hill.

“It was the worst this year because it was a lot of wind, so it spread really quickly,” she said.

Like Mitchell, GG said she had also made preparations for the bushfire.

“We keep a perimeter around the house so there is a bigger chance it won’t hit the house … we cut the grass and the trees around the house, and we have it, like, three to four metres, but we’re going to increase it now,” she said.

She lauded the response of the fire brigade.

“It happened before. Last year I got accustomed to it, so stressful, but you know the firefighters are gonna come and do a good job. The JDF (Jamaica Defence Force) come with the helicopter and they can’t manage it, so I feel it’s quite organised, and the firefighters are really good,” she said.

sashana.small@gleanerjm.com