St Vincent and the Grenadines Fire Department was called upon, and responded multiple times to smoke emitting from a “Coal Pit”.
The Coal Pit which is newly built is located in the community of Upper Cane Hall.
Firefighters were seen inspecting the Coal Pit on Monday 18th, returned on Wednesday 20th and on Thursday 21st January.
One resident who lives within viewing distance of the coal pit said no water was ever used.
On Friday 15th, Health Department workers were also seen inspecting the coal pit.
One of the individuals involved in the building of the coal pit told News784 they are disappointed.
“You mean to tell me in this COVID-19 time when everyone trying to seek a living, people going to call fire truck on us, this is an honest living, it ain’t affecting anybody, my God”.
The individual questioned if this is the way money is being wasted by the Government.
“If they are wasting all this time and money to come here, I just don’t know, might as well they gave to us, we desperately need it, I mean, really, a fire truck sent to out a coal pit”.
When News784 visited the area Friday 22nd, smoke could be seen rising from it.
Further Reading
Making a coal pit begins with gathering the wood, Chopping the wood, then lugging it to the site where it will be set up, this takes varying times depending on the weather.
A set of runners – a series of parallel sticks – are set along the pit’s bottom to keep the charcoal off the ground.
The runners are so that the fire can get completely under the wood and burn it.
After all the wood has been neatly stacked, the next step in the process is putting the coconut palms on it to seal it, starting with the sides before work begins on the top.
A coal-pit could burn for just over two weeks or more. As the wood burns, the coal pit’s height drops, but it must be given air during the process allowing the bigger stacks of wood to burn.
