Firefighters returned to the Trincity Industrial Estate yesterday after smoke was seen coming from rubble left by Tuesday's fire which destroyed Thermoplas Ltd at Tissue Drive.Up to late yesterday they were using foam to smoulder the fire.At a news conference yesterday, president of the Fire Service Association, Charles Ramsaroop, said: "The association has been calling for the past five years for each fire officer to have their own personal safety fire-fighting equipment and to be equipped with their personal face masks and BA (breathing apparatus) set."Ramsaroop said the lives of the firefighters were in danger during the fire.He added: "A number of people were not wearing this (BA set) and the air ran out."The Chief Fire Officer was in charge and he knows, the Minister of National Security knows.
"The officers had to be fighting fire without the proper breathing apparatus and hours later the ODPM advised against being near the black smoke."They (firefighters) wouldn't go back and we continued to fight and take it like man and woman and do our work diligently and effectively," he said.Ramsaroop said the officers could suffer health problems without the usage of the BA set.
He said the dangers of inhaling poison smoke from fires, such as from the industrial estate, could cause lung and other health problems "in years to come."He said: "Our BAs ran out. Several officers that I saw continued to remain at the fire without the necessary BA. This can cause health problems in the future."He said the Government needed to show it cared about firefighters."It is one year since we had a meeting with Minister John Sandy. We raised a number of problems existing in the Fire Service. I want to inform him nothing has been done and vacancies have not been filled," Ramsaroop added.