Rad­hi­ca Sookraj

Lo­cal Gov­ern­ment Min­is­ter Hazel Man­ning has warned cit­i­zens to clean up around their homes reg­u­lar­ly by re­mov­ing tyres, garbage and oth­er com­bustible ma­te­r­i­al which can con­tribute to bush­fires. Man­ning was speak­ing to re­porters fol­low­ing the com­mis­sion­ing of a bus at Point Fortin Fes­ti­val Square yes­ter­day. The bus will be used to help dis­abled peo­ple in the Point Fortin com­mu­ni­ty.

In an in­ter­view, Man­ning said sev­er­al prop­er­ties were de­stroyed re­cent­ly be­cause of fre­quent bush­fires. She said in the case of the Siparia fires, garbage lo­cat­ed around the hous­es had con­tributed to the fire. Man­ning said: "It would help to clear up all prop­er­ty to en­sure we do not have a re­peat of this sit­u­a­tion. If we have garbage, tyres and oth­er com­bustible ma­te­r­i­al around, this will cause the fire to spread out more.

"We are ask­ing cit­i­zens to clean up their homes to pre­vent these fires." She said a meet­ing was held yes­ter­day to dis­cuss what short-term and long-term aid could be giv­en to the fam­i­lies. She al­so com­mend­ed the Point Fortin Bor­ough Cor­po­ra­tion for the com­mis­sion­ing of the bus. On Tues­day, fire de­stroyed five hous­es at De Gannes Vil­lage, Siparia. The fire left more than 25 peo­ple home­less.