More Bush Fires Last Year

With Jamaica recording more than 80 per cent increase in bush fires last year, the Jamaica Fire Brigade (JFB) is appealing to the public to pay close attention to outdoor fires.

According to the Commissioner, Stewart Beckford, the JFB responded to 6,443 bush fire calls last year, compared to 3,518 in 2022.

He said the JFB responded to a similar number of bush fire calls between January and March of last year, as it had received for the entire year of 2022.

“Happily, this year, we are not seeing this level of intensity in bush fires. We are seeing them popping up, especially in St. Catherine, Clarendon, and some in Westmoreland, but we are nowhere near where we were last year this time,” Commissioner Beckford informed JIS News in an interview.

He said many of them, though not intentional, were started as a result of the careless use of fires.

This includes smokers improperly discarding cigarette butts into dense growth of plants along the nation’s roadways.

Commissioner Beckford noted that spontaneous combustion was also responsible for some of the fires.

However, he pointed out that this accounted for only “a small fraction of the bush fire count that the JFB saw last year”.

The Commissioner reiterated that proper management could reduce cases of bush fires going forward and is urging the public to observe the environment before igniting fires.

The JFB also recorded a considerable increase in cultivated farmland fires.

Commissioner Beckford is encouraging farmers who practise the slash-and-burn land-clearing technique to reach out to the JFB for guidance to ensure that the method is carried out properly.