A bush fire forced police to close off a section of the Lady Young Road, Morvant, yesterday as thick smoke affected the visibility of motorists. One of the motorists, T&T Publishers and Broadcasters Association vice-president Kiran Maharaj, said traffic had to be re-routed because of the fire.
In a phone interview yesterday, Maharaj said the fire caused a major traffic pile-up.
“The fire was on the road level and we were advising motorists to stay away from the Lady Young Road. There was a pile-up of traffic near the lookout,” she said. Members of the police and Fire Services quickly responded and a helicopter was seen making frequent trips to the Gulf of Paria with a Bambi bucket to extinguish the blaze.
Fire officers also doused a bush fire near the Caroni cremation site which smothered mourners yesterday. On Tuesday evening, there was another bush fire along the Diego Martin Highway near the river. Residents complained fire tenders did not respond to extinguish the blaze. Acting Chief Fire officer Roosevelt Bruce said officers responded to the threat of the bush fire.
“If we don’t have any fire appliances there it is because they are responding to ones that are more threatening. It is the season. We respond to the nature of the threat,” Bruce said.