Grass fires alarm

BARBADOS HAS RECORDED almost double the number of grass fires this year than during the same period last year.
In a telephone interview on Wednesday, Acting Chief Fire Officer Errol Maynard reported that, up to Tuesday, the Barbados Fire Service had responded to 587 grass fires compared to 310 in 2011.
He said a large number of fires had been recorded in St Philip, speculating the reason was the parish’s wide grassy areas, but stopped short of blaming arson.
“There are varying causes; we cannot say people are deliberately lighting fires as it could be fires that got out of control. It is the dry season, so once you burn anything, the possibility of it getting out of control is real,” he said.
Read the full story in today’s SATURDAY SUN.