Claudia Gardner, Gleaner Writer

Firefighters attached to the Hanover Fire Department, remove the last of their equipment from what was their temporary base at the Millers Drive Community Centre in Lucea, Hanover, yesterday after it was flooded with raw sewage. - Photo by Claudia Gardner

LUCEA, Hanover:

Hanover firefighters who evacuated their temporary relocation site yesterday may have to operate from a four-bedroom dwelling house in Haughton Gardens, Lucea, until refurbishing work at their Cressy's Lane facility is completed in another month.

Yesterday, the firefighters were forced to evacuate the site at the Millers Drive Community Centre in the town, after the building became flooded with raw sewage. The original fire station building, located at Cressy's Lane in Lucea, is being upgraded and expanded to the tune of $18.6 million.

Superintendent of Roads and Works at the Hanover Parish Council, Ivor Earle, has attributed the flooding of the Millers' Drive facility to a deficient sewage absorption pit.

Pit is full

"The absorption pit is full," Mr. Earle told The Gleaner. "The building, which was originally a community centre, was not built to accommodate so many people, and for long periods of time. Until we get rid of that absorption pit and replace it with a holding tank, the problem is going to recur because Lucea is just about sea level and the water is going to back up within days. We drew the sewage last week after the heavy rains, but by this week we were back to square one."

Audley Gilpin, vice chairman of the Hanover Parish Council and councillor for the Lucea division, said the council regretted the fire department's plight. He said however that the building was improperly constructed.

"It is a recurring problem, because it was built in a waterway in a swampy area between the two hills. We did not know this, and are very sorry it happened," Councillor Gilpin said.

Head of the Hanover Fire Department, Superintendent Dolphin Doeman, told The Gleaner that the problem surfaced last week, but was not as intense as yesterday.

He said the department had taken the decision at the time to seek a facility to house the 52 firefighters who work four work shifts.