Faced with a large number of wild fires, the Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources is considering amending the Agriculture Fires Act to increase the fines for setting fires.
Minister of State in the Ministry, Ramona Ramdial, said yesterday that the ministry was considering an increase of fines from the current $1,500 to $10,000.
She was speaking during a joint press conference held by the Ministries of the Environment and Water Resources and National Security. The conference was held at the Knowsley Building, Queen’s Park South, Port-of-Spain.
“I want to reiterate to the public, that the severe consequences resulting from these forest fires will be witnessed very soon and I make reference to flooding, land slips, landslides, loss of wildlife, and even loss of human life during the rainy season [because] of these forest fires and the impact of the dry season,” she said.
However, Ramdial said, to date there was yet to be an arrest made for setting fire to the land.
According to records from the Forestry Division, there have been a total of 268 wild fires that destroyed 908.85 hectares of vegetation—227.59 hectares belonging to private land and 663.31 hectares belonging to state land.
To date, the Forestry Division has suppressed fires at the Caura Hospital, the Hillview Secondary School, the Caroni Bird Sanctuary, San Fernando Hill, Nariva Wetlands, Mt St Benedict, Lady Chancellor Hill, Lopinot, Quinam, and Blue Range, Diego Martin.
Ramdial noted that most of the lands along the foothills of the Northern Range were privately owned, and she called on private land owners to also be cognisant of the environment.
She asked them to not intentionally set fires to clear land during the dry season because these fires were escaping and hundreds of hectares were being burnt in the end.
“I am making a public appeal to the citizens of Trinidad and Tobago to be cognisant of the environment and to implement preventative measures as we move along into the rainy season,” she said.
Ramdial said research by the Forestry Division showed that 100 per cent of the wild fires were caused by humans.
She said along with the amendment to the Act, the ministry intended to build retaining ponds along the Northern Range and other areas for easier access to water. Also, it would be training personnel in Forest Fire Fighting and Aerial Fire Suppression. The ministry is also looking into possibly leasing a Forest Fire Water Plane.
She said the Forestry Division was attempting to cut fire traces in different areas to allow fire fighters to have easier access and she called on private land owners to allow the authorities onto their land so that they could create the fire traces.
Chief Fire Officer Roosevelt Bruce said this year there had been a large number of fires.
“This year we have a hectic May, which is not normally the most hectic bush fire month. Last year we had 300 odd fires for the entire month. This year, so far it is the 12th, and we have 202 bush fires,” said Bruce.
Currently, there are 23 fire stations operating and there will soon be 16 more, five new ones and 11 refurbished ones. Addressing speculation that the fire stations do not have the necessary appliances, Bruce stated that every station had at least one appliance.
Garvin Heerah, director of the National Operations Centre (NOC), said they were working with the Fire Service to help in the outing of large fires, particularly those in inaccessible areas.