00:00Coming out of the pandemic there has been an increase in bushfires across the
00:04country. That's according to acting fire sub officer Jude Rogers. Officer Rogers
00:09said during the pandemic there was a reduction in bushfires as most people
00:14were at home. In 2022, 1,547 bushfires were recorded with an increase to 2,625
00:24in 2023. February to May period was identified as having the highest number
00:29of bushfires. In March of 2022 there were 262 bushfires recorded with the
00:36number spiking to over 800 in 2023. Rogers said fires are all about
00:42detection and an early fire detection is imperative to mitigate potential hazards
00:47from happening. Pre-pandemic figures were hovering just around between 2,000 to
00:533,000 bushfires annually with the peak periods being February, March, April and
01:00May of any given year which is normally driest and the hottest periods of time
01:04in Trinidad and Tobago. After the pandemic we would have seen those
01:08figures ramp back up to those levels again. During the pandemic the figures
01:12would have dropped to under 1,500 bushfires annually. Now we're back up to
01:17what we consider pre-pandemic times. We're back up to 3,000 bushfires
01:22annually. The acting fire sub warns the public that lighting of illegal outdoor
01:28fires for the purpose of clearing land or disposing of rubbish during the dry
01:32season without a permit is illegal and a person can face a possible $20,000 fine
01:38and six months in jail under the Summary Offenses Act. So to avoid falling on the
01:44wrong side of the law, Rogers is encouraging citizens to do the right
01:48thing and apply for a permit. According to Rogers, the steps are easy as one, two,
01:54three. The fire service regulates that the issuance of the permit and it's done
01:59through our fire guardians who are brought on board onto the system being
02:04that they are brought into various stations for a contract period of the
02:091st of December of 2024 to the 30th of June. They are the ones that are charged
02:14with the responsibility of going out into the communities when you apply for
02:17when you visit the station you must apply for a permit. You have a specific
02:22piece of land that you'd like to burn, you have a particular area that you
02:25would want to declare, you come and you apply for the permit and they would go
02:30out and visit. They would look at the risk involved and prescribe measures to
02:34do so safely. Then the permit is issued and you follow the permits instructions
02:40to the T and that is normally restricted to a specific time of day in the
02:45afternoon period between 5 and let's say 7 you're allowed to burn certain
02:50amounts. Other precautionary measures one can take to protect their home and
02:53property are if you have trees that border your property you want to trim
02:58those trees so that they are not in close proximity to your the eve of your
03:02property or any wooden member of your property and most of our homes still
03:07have wooden roofs and with a wooden roof you would have a fire that can ensue
03:11because you're in close proximity to the vegetation. So what we suggest is to cut
03:16a fire trace around the borders of your property. Your fence line you should go
03:205 to 15 feet removing the topsoil vegetation that is above the topsoil
03:26thus relieving no fuel for the fire to burn. So if a fire were to ensue via
03:31bushfire and it comes up to that point there is no vegetation therefore the
03:35fire cannot continue towards your property.
03:37Charla Kesto, TV6 News.
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