Mayor blames NWC for extent of fire damage at Lucea Market
by Bryan Miller/Gleaner Writer · The GleanerWestern Bureau:
Lucea Mayor Sheridan Samuels, who is also the chairman of the Hanover Municipal Corporation (HMC), says that while the investigations into the recent multimillion-dollar fire at the Lucea Market are still ongoing, he, too, believes the National Water Commission (NWC) should shoulder much of the blame for the extent of the damage.
“We at the HMC are really impressed with the way the fire personnel handled the situation,” Samuels said while addressing Thursday’s monthly meeting of the HMC.
“The problem was not with the fire department but with the NWC, and I have said in interviews that I have done, we spoke about the way we in Hanover are treated with respect to the water situation within the parish.
Samuels also rubbished reports that the fire personnel came to the scene of the fire with an inadequate amount of water to fight the blaze which destroyed 23 shops.
Headlines Delivered to Your Inbox
Sign up for The Gleaner’s morning and evening newsletters.
“Most of the shops there could have been saved if the fire brigade was allowed to get water within the town space itself, and I am casting the blame on the NWC, and why I am doing it is because I do not want this to happen to any other parish,” said Samuels.
In addition to the 23 shops that were gutted by the fire, five other shops were partially destroyed in the fire which occurred in the early morning of October 4. Fire personnel from the Jamaica Fire Brigade in Hanover, Lucea and Negril, Westmoreland; and Montego Bay, St James, fought the blaze.
FREQUENT CALL TO NWC
Samuels said his frequent call for the NWC to address the water situation in Hanover is well documented in the records of the HMC, noting the many water lock-offs taking place in the capital town of Lucea daily, without any explanations from the NWC.
The mayor said he was particularly hurt by the fact that most of the affected vendors were in full compliance as it relates to meeting their obligations with the HMC, and to see them suffering such great loss because a state agency failed them.
“Most of the vendors who lost their stock during the fire were all paid up with respect to their financial obligations to the HMC,” said Samuels who was seemingly more concerned about the plight of the affected vendors than the fact the HMC, at least in the short term, will be losing revenue because of their being out of business.
While the HMC is awaiting the official fire investigators report, Samuels said, the corporation will be taking urgent steps to secure the necessary assistance to clean up the burnt-out area, with a view to reorganising and rebuilding the space to facilitate legitimate vending.
“We empathise greatly with those who have suffered losses, and we want to use this opportunity to remind all our vendors to get registered with the HMC and legitimise their vending activities,” said Samuels.