The Saint Lucia Fire Service is now inspecting businesses throughout Castries as part of a new push to improve fire prevention after several major fires in recent years.
On Wednesday, officers from the Fire Prevention and Investigation Department visited businesses around the city to check whether they met the fire safety standards required to operate. The department says these inspections are just the beginning of an ongoing effort to make sure every business is ready to prevent and handle fires.
Assistant Divisional Officer Owen Cazaubon said the Fire Service is shifting its focus to preventing emergencies instead of just responding to them.
“We want to ensure that every business, and we’re starting today, but then we will continue weeks after, just to ensure that every business in Castries meets the safety standards to operate,” he explained.
Saint Lucia’s laws require all businesses to get a fire safety certificate before operating. While businesses are expected to request inspections, Cazaubon said the Fire Service is taking the lead, visiting businesses directly.
Rather than immediately penalising businesses that fall short, the department says its priority is to help owners fix problems and improve safety.
“The intention is to work with them to bring them up to par so that they can operate safely,” he noted.
This new effort follows several major commercial fires, like the Computer World fire earlier this year and the 2019 Adjodha Building fire. Both incidents showed the dangers of having many buildings close together in the city.
Cazaubon warned that, because of Castries’ layout, even a relatively small fire can quickly spread if not stopped early.
“We’re trying not to have a conflagration. We’re trying not to have another disaster, another 1948 on our hands,” he said, referring to the Great Castries Fire of 1948.
In addition to inspecting businesses, the Fire Service is reminding drivers not to park over fire hydrants. They say firefighters need clear access to hydrants during emergencies.
Do something about all those people doing barbecue around the city. And right next to wooden structures to boot. And for the idiots saying they have to make a bread. Imagine the bread they will take away from thousands when they burn down Castries. All those open flames are a Castries Fire 3.0 in the making. It is guaranteed to happen again if this isn’t stopped.
Bravo, some proactive thinking opposed to re-active disaster management.
This should have been in place a very, very long time ago, better late than never.