Falloff in persons seeking burn permits

There has been a significant falloff in the number of Barbadians who have been applying for burn permits.

This was shared by Fire Officer, Andrew Taylor, who is attached to the Barbados Fire Service’s (BFS) Research and Planning Unit. This decline is in stark contrast to the number of people who inquired and purchased these permits when the Fire Service (Fees) Order, 2020 took effect on April 1st, last year. Under this Order, members of the public are required to request permission from the BFS to burn rubbish or open flames outdoors.

“The burn permit, when it first came into existence, did cause a stir as people were not clear on all of the aspects of the policy. We were inundated with calls, especially from people wanting to know if it was now illegal to cook outdoors (yards) or even roast breadfruit.”

He continued, “Initially we did see a steady flow of people coming to Headquarters to apply for the burn permit, but many of them did not meet the criteria as in some cases people just had small heaps of rubbish (papers, boxes, grass or leaves) accumulated, which could be easily bagged and disposed of through the regular garbage disposal… There has been a significant falloff with reference to people applying for the burn permits.”

Taylor said the BFS is currently working with individuals “who have applied for burn permits to find alternative means of disposing of this type of material”. He additionally stated the BFS is hopeful Barbadians “will resort to the alternative methods instead of burning indiscriminately, because rubbish fires are normally burnt within close proximity to homes and these fires can easily get out of control and spread to neighbouring homes”. (MG)