KINGSTON, Jamaica—Swiftly executed, last Thursday’s fire drill at TotalEnergies’ Manor Park service station got the nod of the Jamaica Fire Brigade for having met required standards, though “there is no perfect drill”, as pointed out by Acting Sergeant Lecia Oliver, who, along with District Officer Shaun Hamilton, oversaw the mid-morning forecourt-fire simulation in the heart of busy upper Constant Spring Road, St Andrew.

“The protocols—shutting down all systems and quickly calling the necessary agencies, plus evacuation, which was done within the given time—two and a half minutes—were all accomplished,” Oliver noted.

“There is no perfect drill, meaning there is always room for improvement, but if this were a real scenario, there would be no severe damage based on how they responded,” she added.

Though the drill was scheduled for observatory purposes of the fire brigade, the beeping fire alarm caught everyone off-guard, including observers and staffers from TotalEnergies head office milling around the service station located on the commercial strip.

The busy convenience store, ‘Bonjour’, was evacuated within a minute and the forecourt cleared of vehicles while customers were ushered to one of two assembly points.

Robert Holdsworth, health, safety, environment and quality director, TotalEnergies Jamaica, explained the need for two muster points.

“We have separate assembly points for different eventualities,” Holdsworth pointed out. “This is a forecourt fire simulation, meaning the fire scenario would have been in the area where the gas pumps are; hence we used the northern assembly point, away from the pumps.

“Were the simulation a fire occurring in the convenience store, where we have a deli, which uses stoves, we would have used the southern assembly point, which is farther away from the store.”

On arrival of the fire unit at approximately 10:29 am, sirens blazing from the southern end of Constant Spring Road, 19 minutes after the drill started, Oliver and Hamilton, officers from the Fire Prevention and Public Relations department of the Jamaica Fire Brigade, pointed to response time, an often-criticised aspect of local firefighting.

“What today’s drill also highlighted was that response times vary according to circumstances, hence why preparedness is very important. This response area is usually served by the Stony Hill Fire Station but their unit was already out on a call, requiring another to come from a farther distance, through traffic. Therefore time of day and availability of the nearest unit all factor into response time,” Oliver explained.

Terry Forrester, parish disaster coordinator, Kingston and St Andrew Municipal Corporation (KSAMC), also gave TotalEnergies Manor Park two thumbs up for a successful simulation, noting that it was important for entities such as service stations to have established fire protocols.

“It is absolutely important that all members of staff and the general public be aware of how to respond to fires at gas stations, which are vulnerable areas handling flammable material, especially in built-up areas such as Manor Park.

“At KSAMC, we are always looking at other incidents, hurricanes, chemical spills. We prepare for the unexpected,” she added.

The last major fire at a service station in Jamaica occurred six years ago in central Jamaica, on February 21, 2020, destroying another marketing company’s premises, leaving one man dead, seven to 10 people injured, and at least four hospitalised, suffering from severe third-degree burns.

Holdsworth credited TotalEnergies Jamaica’s ongoing training and past experiences for nailing the Manor Park simulation.

“We do these drills to learn how to be seamless next time or, hopefully not, in the event of a fire. We had a situation at Red Hills Road last year when a customer came on the pump and had problems, which started a fire. It was the pump attendants, through their training, who were able to quickly extinguish that fire,” he pointed out.