FOUR of the 11 people who lost their home in a fire in San Juan on Thursday morning say the first fire truck that came to put out the blaze had no water.
When three other trucks with water arrived, the residents say the fire officers changed shift while trying to put out the inferno and had to share two pieces of breathing apparatus during the incident.
After two hours, the house was completely gutted and four puppies were dead. All four families lost their belongings while two residents were treated at the scene by medical personnel.
“They didn’t even have enough water. They changed shifts while the building was burning, imagine that,” said one upset resident.
“This is the fourth fire truck and it can’t even put out the fire,” the man added.
While grateful there was no loss of human life, he lamented the loss of the tenants’ belongings.
“That's hard. Yeah, we’re happy no one got seriously damaged but to lose the things that you work hard to provide for yourself and your family could take a serious toll on someone’s mental health.”
The resident said officers had to take turns using the breathing apparatus as they battled the blaze.
“The officers were sharing the masks. As one came out, another one would put it on and so it going.”
This, in turn, allowed the fire to reignite several times as attention to the situation was inconsistent, he said.
“Every time one of them came out, the fire just got bigger and bigger. The fire went down and came back up nearly four times in the last two hours.”
When Newsday visited, officers were seen trying to wrangle with leaking hoses. As the fire blazed, a fire officer walked away, sat down and put a face mask to his nose, seemingly trying to catch his breath.
When Newsday tried to speak to him, he said he could not speak at the time.
One resident pointed out the leaks, saying, “Look, the equipment they brought is not even wholesome. The hose burst in like three different places and is wasting one set of water.”
He questioned why taxpayers’ dollars were not being used to adequately equip the fire service. Water from the leaking hose soaked this reporter, several police officers and one fire officer.
“This is licks for taxpayers’ money. They don’t even have the proper equipment. One officer had to use a bolt cutter to burst down a door. Where is our money going?”
As the families sat on a hill looking on as the fire ravaged the place they once called home, officers became engulfed in a thick cloud of black smoke and debris as the top floor collapsed.
Although the residents were not happy with the fire service's response, that did not stop one man from offering watermelon and bottled water to the officers.
One tenant said she was at work when she received a call from a neighbour and was told smoke was coming from the building.
“When I came home, everything was in shambles. We don’t know what to do, we don’t even know where we’re going to sleep.”
Another teary-eyed tenant said she has two younger siblings, one of whom is currently writing CXC ex
