March 19, 2007 — People came out of their homes in Estate Concordia to watch Monday afternoon as a dozen or more acres of neighboring brush and grass went up in flames.
Firefighters responded to the scene, but after barely any rain for the past two months, the fire moved rapidly across the windy, sun-baked field of scrub. There was little the fire crew could do but try to contain the blaze and safeguard people's homes. One after another, tall tufts of dry grass burst into brief blazes as multiple separate fires roamed around the field, quickly clearing the ground and leaving it covered in smoldering soot.
Deputy Fire Chief Angel Torres was on hand to oversee the firefighters coming in and out of the smoky field.
"We got a call from a concerned citizen, and this is the responding unit," Torres said. He paused to speak to someone over his radio: "We're trying to corral this fire; right now it is spreading at the southeast perimeter."
Then he turned back to answer more questions.
"Every year this time you will see fires like this nearly every day," Torres said. He would not immediately say what he believed caused the fires.
"It's so dry right now; they go so quickly," Torres said. "We've had both arson and spontaneous fires already." He paused to call a soot-covered fireman out of the haze to take a breather and rehydrate before continuing, "Every year this time you will see fires like this nearly every day."
February and March are the driest two months of the year on St. Croix. And this February and March so far have been much drier than usual. Both months typically have a dry 2.25 inches or so of rain. To date, combined rainfall for both months is only 1.11 inches, almost all of which came weeks ago in February. Chief Glenn Francis of the V.I. Fire Service recently announced that a ban on all outdoor burning will be enforced until there is sufficient rainfall to improve conditions. The Fire Department urges homeowners to clear overhanging brush near homes and buildings to lessen the risk of loss.
Along with increasing the risk of brushfire, the dry weather has residents' cisterns going empty and wells getting dry, making them buy more water. This has not helped a V.I. Water and Power Authority water-shortage problem. While WAPA produces water by desalinating sea water rather than collecting rainfall, they have experienced a shortage caused by taking storage tanks offline for inspection.
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