Fire Chief: another Castries fire very unlikely
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Thursday, 19 June 2008 – Thursday June 19th marked 60 years since the City of Castries was ravaged by fire, devouring 75 percent of its physical infrastructure. The 1948 Castries fire rendered some 2,000 homeless.
Hundreds are said to have lost everything they possessed except the clothes they stood in, on that faithful day. As the country observed this anniversary, questions still linger of the nation’s preparedness to deal with such an eventuality. Chief Fire Officer Leslie Fontinelle thinks the country is prepared
“Currently we have more sophisticated equipment. We have more people who are trained and available on a full time basis to respond to fire emergencies, but we cannot be too comfortable. Recently we have responded to several large fires within Castries, the latest one being the Y-Delima building. Prior to that, we had the Fancy Boutique, and several years ago the JQ building, in the boulevard. Had we not have the equipment and training it would have posed a greater threat to commercial entities in the city,” Mr. Fontinelle said.
Back then water was indeed a factor, as the lack of it allowed the fire to get out of control for some ten hours, despite the fact the city was draped on two sides by the sea and by a river on another.
“Because of the severe constraints that were faced at that time, based on consultation, we installed two sea pumps. Those sea Pumps were recently upgraded. Just last year we put in a new unit, and in any event of a fire in the city those pumps are available to draw water from the sea, making our water resource almost unlimited,” the fire chief said.
The Castries fire caused damaged of up to $20,000,000, with just some of those who lost homes and property being covered by insurance. |
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