–chemical reaction suspected to be the origin; facility to remain closed until Monday as investigations continue
FIREFIGHTERS, on Wednesday, prevented a possible fire at the Christ Church Secondary School, located on Camp Street, just adjacent to the Prime Minister’s Office.

At 16:30 hours, an alarmed was raised by teachers and other nearby patrons after heavy smoke was seen emanating from the lower flat of the building.

Education Minister Priya Manickchand, who spoke with reporters while on the scene, said quick response from both the teachers and the fire service helped to alleviate any possible devastation.

“Anything that destroys a school really hurts a lot of children for a long time, so you would think it’s only for the hours or the days a school is closed, but for every day lost for a child in education, they suffer many years to come and so we are very concerned about anything that could damage a school… these are old schools, they are wooden schools, so we are very glad about the prompt responses and alert,” Minister Manickchand said.

Meanwhile, acting Fire Chief, Gregory Wickham told reporters firemen who responded to the incident were able to contain the situation, which was believed to be caused by a chemical reaction in the school’s laboratory.

“We would have had a dispatch of four tenders that is from the four stations in Georgetown; the first arriving tender would have sent the signal or the call that the building was smoke logged and so as they arrived, they were able to gain entry, they realised it was not generally smoke, but it was some chemicals and so they entered the prep room and they were able to identify the area where the chemicals were… they were able to use the smoldering system to extinguish,” Wickham said.

The substance was removed from the building and further efforts were made to ensure the rest of the building was ventilated and secured.

“[They] remove the contents from the area, and then used fire extinguishers and a small amount of water and sand to cover the debris,” Wickham said.

He related that while the Fire Service does not often receive reports of chemical reactions, all ranks are trained and well equipped to respond to such situations.

Further investigations will be conducted.

Meanwhile, Minister Manickchand said that her ministry is in the process of rolling out an initiative to ensure that chemicals that are used as part of the secondary school curriculum as well as electrical appliances are properly stored.

“We are in that process [of] looking at all high schools and how we can make sure we dispose safely of chemicals that may have expired and I’m not suggesting that is what happened here, I’m just saying that is one of the processes we are engaged in currently and also looking at electrical and so on,” she said.

Due to the ongoing investigation and concerns of safety, the school will remain closed until next Monday.

“Because of safety concerns, chemicals have peculiar smells and so on, we have decided that the school is going to be closed on Thursday and Friday. We will resume again on Monday,” Minister Manickchand said.

Also present at the scene, were Prime Minister, Brigadier (Ret’d) Mark Phillips; Home Affairs Minister, Robeson Benn, and Minister within the Office of the Prime Minister, Kwame McCoy.