Five fire officers were injured following a rescue operation during flash flooding in San Juan yesterday.
According to reports, shortly after midday the fire officers, all assigned to the San Juan Fire Station, responded to a distress call from three maxi taxis which became stranded as flood waters rose along the Priority Bus Route at the Croisee.
The officers parked their tender along Fifth Street and extended its ladder acrosss the PBR and used it to evacuate passengers who were stranded as the maxis stalled in the flood waters, which reportedly rose to above four feet in some areas.
After completing the rescue, the officers were retracting the ladder when it came into contact with a low-hanging high tension electrical wire. The four officers who were handling the equipment and the driver of the tender were shocked. Fire officer Devaughn Gibson sustained the most serious injuries and was knocked unconscious.
The entire incident was captured by an employee of a nearby office who recorded it from a fourth-storey window and later posted it on social networking websites. The short video clip attracted numerous comments from Facebook users who questioned whether health and safety breaches by the officers led to the incident.
The injured officers were taken to the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex in Mt Hope where four were treated and discharged yesterday. Gibson regained consciouses at the hospital but sustained serious burns to his body and remained warded in a stable condition last night.
In an interview at the Fire Services' Wrightson Road headquarters yesterday afternoon, acting Chief Fire Officer Roosevelt Bruce said he could not comment on the recording as he was yet to view it.
"For me to comment on breach of protocols for safety, I would have to see the video myself and then have a meeting to determine if anything out of the ordinary happened," Bruce said.
He, however, praised the officers for their hard work in the successful rescue mission and noted it was another example of fire officers risking their lives to save those of citizens.
"We as members of Fire Services go into situations that others run away from so there is always a risk that officers will get injured in line of duty. We will continue to do it within trained parameters and will continue to have training to ensure officers keep in line with protocols when out there," Bruce said.
Bruce also revealed that only the ladder and not the fire tender was damaged in the incident.
"Equipment can always be replaced but it is impossible to replace a life," Bruce said as he noted counselling will be provided to the affected officers.
In a press release issued yesterday, the T&T Electricity Commission (T&TEC) said it would launch a parallel investigation into the incident.
Cops rescue man from EDR
A police sergeant from the Inter Agency Task Force (IATF) has received commendations from his superiors and members of the public after he risked his life to rescue a man who was nearly swept away in the East Dry River during heavy rainfall in Port-of-Spain yesterday.
According to reports, around 12.45 pm officers of the IATF responded to reports of a man struggling to stay afloat in the swollen river near a bridge close to City Gate in downtown Port-of-Spain.
When they arrived on the scene, the officer, identified as Sgt Roger Bahadoor, removed his tactical gear and immediately jumped into the river to rescue the man. Bahadoor was able to reach the man and then swam to the bank of the river near the bridge, where the two held on for 15 minutes before fire officers of the Wrightson Road Fire Station arrived to assist in removing them from the raging river.
The man, who was not identified by police, was taken to the Port-of-Spain General Hospital for treatment and was later discharged.
Speaking with reporters after his heroic act, a humble Sgt Bahadoor said: "I was just doing my job. What else could I have done in this situation?"
On September 3, five-year-old Josiah Henry drowned after falling into a drain near his Belmont home during heavy rainfall. Henry's body was carried via the East Dry River and deposited in the Gulf of Paria and was recovered the following day near the International Waterfront Centre at Wrightson Road, Port-of-Spain.
Investigations are continuing.