Toxic Fumes Poison Freeport Residents

Toxic Fumes Poison Freeport Residents
By Frederick R. M. Smith
October 25th, 2004

I call on the Government and the Port Authority to take proper responsibility to create a firefighting department for the Island of Grand Bahama.

It is shambolic that after 50 years as a City our Island still does not have a Fire Department with branches in West and East Grand Bahama, which are properly equipped and staffed to meet the demands of our metropolitan area.

On Sunday night, October 24, two huge fires at two temporary dumps on Midshipman Road raged out of control, spewing toxic, hazardous and suffocating smoke into surrounding neighbourhoods. This also occurred last weekend and in other parts of Freeport. Residents in the area had to suffer the fumes from burning tyres, rubber, carpets, plastics, refrigerators, Freon, batteries, rotten building material, wood and general garbage collected after the hurricanes.

As a concerned citizen, I called the Lucaya Police Station to be told that the Fire Department was monitoring the fires. I called 911 seven times, which never answered. I drove to the Fire Department on Settlers Way only to discover that Freeport no longer had a Fire Department. I finally found the relic of our Royal Bahamas Police Force Department at the Police Barracks on Shipton Drive. Despite the best will in the world, the officers were powerless to stop the fires. They assured me that they had visited and tried to quell them but to no avail.

There are no fire hydrants in the area.

The Fire Station on Settlers Way has been destroyed by the hurricanes. The Fire Department now only has two of the four 1,000 gallon trucks operational. There are no other Fire Departments with operational trucks on Grand Bahama (there are private industries which have their own Fire Departments).

It is a shame that an island which seeks to seduce the rich and famous to its shores and one million tourists a year should not have a proper budget, staffing facilities or amenities.

The Fire Department is part of the Royal Bahamas Police Force. It should not be. That is a relic of colonialisation and centralisation. We need to break from these slavish chains of the past! We need to have self-respect and a sense of pride in a local and accountable department.

The industrial capital of the Bahamas should have a Fire Department properly funded by the Port Authority which has the responsibility for administration, control and regulation of the Port Area.

It should be financially supported by the Government from the $150 million in taxes collected every year from Grand Bahamians. This Fire Department should have fully-serviced branches at least in Lucaya, Eight Mile Rock, West End and High Rock and staffed by well-paid firemen and proud volunteers from the local communities. We need Fire Marshals from the Fire Department to supervise, inspect and enforce proper fire prevention and emergency codes. The Fire Department should be Grand Bahama's emergency land rescue squad!

I ask whether the fires were intentionally lit to dispose of the huge mounds of refuse. I have lodged a formal complaint with the Police Department to investigate and if possible to prosecute those responsible for setting the fires.

I call upon the Port Authority Planning Department to begin installing more working fire hydrants throughout Freeport and to ensure that they install adequate numbers in future real estate developments.

I wish to commend the Royal Bahamas Police Fire Department for the amazing job which they have been able to do with such limited resources. I have met those officers. They are dedicated policemen trying to do their best but they are also available for other police duties and do not have sufficient tools to do the job they could do.

- Frederick Smith
http://www.grandbahamarelief.org/toxic_fumes.htm

[ikki_the_viking]

Its a tax paradise, and you complain over a lack of services. Isnt that the whole purpose of a tax paradise, no services you dont pay for yourself? And thus also no 50% income tax, no 40% capital gains tax, further augumented by a 40% dividend tax and then some more for education, public transportation and compulsory extra medical taxes amongst other such fun.

Want firefighters, get together with some neighbours and pool maybe 300 neighbours * 300 dollars a month = 90.000/mo, enough to pay for a few firefighters, rent for a firefighting hq and a vechile or two. Certainly it isnt illegal to set up a private firefighting force?