In the early hours of Wednesday morning fire fighters were once again called to the New Providence Landfill to battle another blaze.

According to Chief Superintendent Walter Evans, the landfill fire was one of three fires that fire fighters were called to battle.

“The fire services had a pretty busy morning. We have had several incidences ongoing, one incident right after the other.

“The first one took place just around 3 a.m. or shortly before that at the landfill where we had a fire report, and upon arrival officers met a very, very large area of fire burning which would have included household items, ordinary consumable items, and waste products. When we got here there was a need to deploy all of the resources.

“Officers had to implement a strategy to ensure that the fire did not spread,” Superintendent Evans said.

He added that the strategy implemented was also done to protect and prevent the fire from spreading to a costly piece of equipment that was nearby.

“A strategy in place to preserve a heavy piece of equipment called the Murph and according to reports that we received the piece of equipment is maybe in the millions of dollars, but fire was heading in that direction.

“It is an essential piece of equipment that we had to ensure that the fire did not come into contact with,” Superintendent Evans stated.

He also indicated that because of the recent fire that forced Jubilee Gardens’ residents to evacuate their homes last month, his team is paying closer attention to the fire and smoke.

“As a result of this fire, we also implemented patrols from police cars from the Royal Bahamas Police Force (RBPF), which were in the areas of Victoria Gardens and Jubilee Gardens.

“The main purpose is to watch and monitor the level of smoke in those communities to find out whether if we need to take any way of action otherwise,” Superintendent Evans said.

As the fire fighters attempted to extinguish the Landfill fire, they were called to two other fires in two separate locations.

“We received a report of a structural fire in the Golden Gates Community just off Malcolm Road.

“When we got there, we met a single structure well ablaze. That structure had caused some minor fire damages to a residence which is on the southern side of that facility.

“When resources were deployed from here to address that, while officers were dealing with the structural fire there was an additional call of another fire which took place on Independence Drive, just in the vicinity of the City Market Warehouse,” Superintendent Evans said.

Weighing in on the fire, Chairman of the Free National Movement (FNM) Sidney Collie issued a statement on the negative effects of the fire, calling it a recurring catastrophe.

“Last night the New Providence Landfill caught on fire once again. I hope our government resolves this situation as soon as possible.

“Not only do these fires damage property and bring negative effects to our tourism product, but they pose serious health risks to Bahamian families, which they endure far too frequently.

“Throughout this recurring catastrophe, this unduly inept PLP government tells us not to worry. As if, their empty rhetoric somehow contains the physical properties to solve this ongoing calamity,” Mr. Collie said.

Superintendent Evans was unable to speak to the cause of the fire, but stated that an investigation would be launched to determine the cause as they were still in the extinguishing mode.