Video: Chief Fire Officer Hollinsid On HWP Fire
The Bermuda Fire Service continues to investigate the cause of the fire that destroyed the HWP building earlier this week.
Speaking earlier today [Aug.11], Chief Fire Officer Vincent Hollinsid said, “The investigation is ongoing, they are making good progress. I meet with them on a regular basis just to be kept abreast of the developments.”
He declined to give specific details when asked, saying: “I don’t like to speculate on things like that, I will wait for the investigation to be completed.”
On Monday afternoon [Aug.8] a massive fire ripped through the HWP building on St John’s Road, destroying the building to the point it was demolished soon after. Sixty firefighters and twenty fire trucks responded to the scene, spending over three hours to bring the fire under control.
Speaking on the logistics of battling the massive blaze, Mr Hollinsid said firefighters were called in from “every station on the island” which included St. George’s volunteers, Clearwater Station, Airport Station, Hamilton Station and Port Royal Fire Station to fight the HWP blaze.
He explained that other parts of the island were not left without fire protection due to sufficient standby crews available at the Hamilton Station, and there was another call in that same time frame which they attended.
Mr Hollinsid said the airport crash fire vehicle was deployed to the scene as a “precautionary measure” due to the presence of industrial buildings and a gas station nearby.
The truck – which was escorted by police bikes – carries 3000 gallons of water and over 200 gallons of foam, and is able to “rapidly deploy large volumes of foam.”
Hr Hollinsid said, “Given the threat that was present at that fire, we thought it best to deploy this vehicle and position it, as in the event we needed to use it we could deploy it right away. Fortunately we did not have to deploy it.” Firefighter Hezekiah Fox showed Bernews around the vehicle.
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Mr Hollinsid spoke about needing in excess of 1000 gallons of water per minute to fight the fire. A recently purchased high volume water pump played a big part in supplying those water needs.
Mr Hollinsid said the Bermuda Fire and Rescue Service is currently operating short of twenty staff and he hopes “to convince the Government to give us funding to bring us back up..” He said: “The concern I do have is if we have a fire of this magnitude, and it was more involved with a building and we have to do what we call ‘interior fire fighting, that is where the problem may arise.”
He also thanked the Bermuda Police Service and BELCO for their assistance; with BELCO allowing use of their water lines, and the police managing road/crowd control and providing an escort for the fire truck from the airport.
I am wondering how accurate could the investigation be if the remains of the building were demolished and excavated the very next day.