By David Dunkley, Staff Reporter
Sterling Soares (centre foreground), President of the JUTC, speaks with Danny Roberts, vice-president of the Union of Clerical, Administrative and Supervisory Employees (UCASE), and Assistant Superintendent Renford Adams (left) of the Jamaica Fire Brigade, as they assess fire damage at the JUTC's Spanish Town depot, St. Catherine, early yesterday. - Rudolph Brown
THE JAMAICA Urban Transit Company's Spanish Town depot was extensively damaged by a massive fire which destroyed four buses and severely damaged sections of the maintenance department yesterday morning.
Neither the cause of the fire nor an estimate of the damage was immediately ascertained, but JUTC President Sterling Soares said it would definitely set back the company millions of dollars as the buses cost $8 million each.
Employees said the fire began in a warehouse inside the department shortly after 4 a.m. and quickly spread to other sections. Workers, even those not employed to drive buses, hurriedly drove them out of the department, while others removed other important equipment and furniture from an adjoining office.
Later as firemen carried out cooling down operations, broken glass and other burnt debris could be seen all over the water-soaked floor of the department. The blackened half-burnt zinc roof and walls as well as the heat coming from them indicated the extent of the fire.
Mr. Soares said the fire would not affect the operations of the depot but that the maintenance of the buses would have to be done elsewhere. He said the main aim now was to get the depot as fully functional as possible within a short time.
He commended the workers, especially the conductresses, for the way they handled the incident. "They showed true professionalism and went above and beyond the call of duty and they must be commended," he said.
Kenneth Nelson, District Officer at the Spanish Town Fire Brigade told The Gleaner that initial investigations suggest that the fire began in a tyre and auto parts warehouse beside the Maintenance Department. He was unable to say, however, what started it. Six fire units were used to fight the blaze.
Meanwhile Danny Roberts, vice-president of the Union of Clerical, Administrative and Supervisory Employees (UCASE), the affiliate of the National Workers Union which represents the supervisory staff, also commended the employees for what he called their "sterling efforts" in ensuring that the buses were removed from the location safely".
Roberts said the union will be pressing the company to implement fire drills and other precautionary measures.
The fire is the second incident in five days to have affected the JUTC and cause damage to buses. Last Saturday at least 10 of the company's buses were damaged by protesters in the Olympic Gardens area. This followed the stabbing to death of a man who was involved in an altercation with a JUTC bus driver.
Buses were stoned and were subsequently re-routed from the area.
