BILLOWING SMOKE from a brush fire at St David’s, Christ Church, disrupted classes at the Blackman and Gollop Primary and the nearby Thelma Berry Nursery School just before midday today.
One fire tender and four officers from the Worthing Station tried to control the blaze while treading cautiously, as the 28 acres of land was laced with cow itch.
One irate resident, Billy Eastmond, expressed his disappointment with the response of the authorities in dealing with the cow itch problem. After capturing and securing his dog, Eastmond indicated that the cow itch had forced his family to move out of their home.
“This has been a problem for over 10 years. I had a young child living here so I had to move out because of over 28 acres of cow itch. My son attends Blackman and Gollop and I was forced to call the radio programme because my son was coming home scratching.
“After I called the programme, the authorities came and cleared the cow itch from the land adjacent to the school, since the school had to be closed down on the day when I called the programme. But nothing has been done about this larger section of brush and cow itch,” stated Eastmond.
With some very large and obviously ripened pods on the cow itch vines in view, the fire officers used the strategy of control burning, and also destroyed some of the vines and pods. (KB)
