Could the four who perished in the San Pedro house fire have been saved if proper standards were in place?
First, the house had only one working entrance and exit; second, the area had no fire hydrants. Eventually the Fire truck had to draw water from a pool, while a power washer from a nearby hotel helped control the flames.
So was it a preventable tragedy? We spoke to the 4 term area representative about it:...
Hon. Manuel Heredia, Minister of Tourism
"Definitely I'm personally very shocked, my condolences to the family. To both families from the father and mother's side. I know them extremely well, I may go as far to say that they are strong supporters of myself. It was a real disaster and it was really sad, in particularly the way that they were found embraced together. Again, upon speaking with the mayor, we have to be a little more careful not only in the approval of plans but in making sure that when the house is completed we can go and verify that it has been done according to the approved plan. Unfortunately it has only one step and two doors, one of the doors, I understand when they hurricane was coming they had braces inside and it was impossible to open that one. That is where the very unfortunate death of these people happened."
Reporter
"The trucks were not capable to deal with the extent of the blaze."
Hon. Manuel Heredia, Minister of Tourism
"I will agree with you that the type of the equipment on the two types of trucks, the capacity of water that they can hold is minimal, 500 gallons. With the pressure that they have in a minute or two that's finished. It's better to get portable pumps and mount it on a trailer that you can immediately, if anything happens. I brought it to the attention of the cabinet and I am sure that very shortly we will see at least one or two of these nice portable pumps coming to the island."
Reporter
"This has been in the making since 2 years ago in the fire downtown where 14 structures were destroyed. NEMO and other agencies along with the government had promised that they would have put in hydrants across the town and that has not happened. It has been two years."
Hon. Manuel Heredia, Minister of Tourism
"One thing that I know is that area in particular doesn't have the portable water in that sub-division. I will lobby as strong as possible with the chairman of WASA to make sure we put portable water over that so that we can put the hydrants there."
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