Health Minister vows landfill fire will never happen again

Smoke from the fire on Friday
Smoke from the fire on Friday

Health Minister, Dr. Kenneth Darroux, has described a fire at the landfill in Fond Cole as unfortunate and vows that he will ensure it never happens again.

He was speaking on state-owned DBS Radio’s Talking Point on Monday.

“What happened over the weekend, let me say for the record, was very unfortunate,” he said. “As the Minister of Health, let me just commit myself to the Dominican public to say that we are going to try our best to ensure that this never, ever, ever happens again.”

He also described as “malicious” comments made by some that the fire was deliberately set.

He also said that generally very little burning takes place at the landfill.

“And if it happens, it happens in a controlled way,” Darroux noted.

He remarked that the cause of the blaze, which began on Friday, is being investigated.

“This matter is so serious that as we speak, it is being investigated we have called in the police to launch an investigation into what happened because clearly this is unacceptable,” he stated.

He also denied reports that there was the planned buring of tires at the landfill when the incident took place.

“This fire was not started, it was not intended and there was no planned burning of tires or any other solid waste at the landfill,” he remarked.

Darroux noted that there was not lost of life or property and and mentioned that preliminary reports indicate that someone visited the landfill, as customary, and tried to burn a few items and the fire got out of control.

He took the time to apologize to the public.

“I would like to take this opportunity to apologize to the Dominican public, to everyone who happened to be in Dominica on Friday including the cruise ship visitors,” Darroux stated.

Copyright 2012 Dominica News Online, DURAVISION INC. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or distributed.

Disclaimer: The comments posted do not necessarily reflect the views of DominicaNewsOnline.com and its parent company or any individual staff member. All comments are posted subject to approval by DominicaNewsOnline.com. We never censor based on political or ideological points of view, but we do try to maintain a sensible balance between free speech and responsible moderating.

We will delete comments that:

  • contain any material which violates or infringes the rights of any person, are defamatory or harassing or are purely ad hominem attacks
  • a reasonable person would consider abusive or profane
  • contain material which violates or encourages others to violate any applicable law
  • promote prejudice or prejudicial hatred of any kind
  • refer to people arrested or charged with a crime as though they had been found guilty
  • contain links to "chain letters", pornographic or obscene movies or graphic images
  • are off-topic and/or excessively long

See our full comment/user policy/agreement.

25 Comments

  1. wow
    March 30, 2015

    just a question please. if the police is in charge of investigating the cause of fire,then what is the use of the fire service? then can we do away with such a department which may be considered useless?

  2. tru d bino q la
    March 17, 2015

    One only dies once.

  3. Concerned Dominican
    March 17, 2015

    “Darroux noted that there was not lost of life or property and and mentioned that preliminary reports indicate that someone visited the landfill, as customary, and tried to burn a few items and the fire got out of control.”

    This is worrying indeed!!! Is he saying that some persons may visit the landfill (Presumably persons who are not employed by the landfill) and may simply attempt to burn items within the confines of that space without consulting first with employees and receiving consent to do so? If that is the case then the security needs to be reviewed as it relates to persons allowed to enter and exit and under what conditions this should happen!!

    Anything going to be dumped within that space should first be approved by the staff there so as to ensure that crimes may not be committed or criminal evidence destroyed and or buried on those premises!!

    Put procedures in place please!! Think of the consequences to all; the tourist, the industry and the local persons…

  4. Concerned Dominican
    March 17, 2015

    WOW!!!!!!!!!!!! Finally the government has found something……….SOMETHING serious enough to call in the police???? This is the first time that I have actually heard anyone from the government say that the police were CALLED IN to conduct an investigation!!!! Normally they say that the matter is being investigated by do not specify by whom and we wait and wait and wait and get no statements so as to update the investigation or to give the conclusions of such investigations!!! Wow…………lets see which poor man’s head is going to roll on this one!!!

  5. Efficatious
    March 17, 2015

    In as much you vow it will never happen again meaning you know how and why it started why bother to call the police

  6. coyote
    March 17, 2015

    you don’t know the cause of the fire but you are vowing to prevent it from ever happening again,SMH. That is like a doctor giving someone medicine without first finding out what ails them. Only in Dominica.

  7. The Facts
    March 16, 2015

    If someone came to the landfill to burn something, in effect the fire was started. I would state while it was burning, it got out of hand. Probably the sparks from whatever was being burned touched other material and produced a major fire at the landfill.
    Was this landfill not supervised? Any and everyone and/or unauthorized people should not be allowed to go to the landfill to burn material. Great care must be taken when burning materials at that landfill.
    It should not be said that this and that will never, ever happen in the future. Life is uncertain. We cannot foretell and also foresee the future. Nothing is certain in life.
    Benjamin Franklin said, “Only two things are certain in life, death and taxes.” His wise statement will tell us much, never be presumptuous except to be careful. Then again how can one be careful even though they try? All we could say, precaution should be taken that, hopefully, this will never happen again. Pray it never does.

  8. %
    March 16, 2015

    These people, the more they speak, the more they expose their weaknesses.

  9. Truth and Justice
    March 16, 2015

    People let us be positive, I am sure the fire was an accident, so as humans accident hppen, however we have a problem in Dominica it is carelessness, workers are careless,people are careless, authorities are careless, e.g the Spanish playing oud music disturbing people seep and the police careless, they will give license for a bar in a residential area, thus changing the face of Dominica. So i feel sorry for Dr. Darroux as the police only know to arrest poor people doing petty crimes.

  10. March 16, 2015

    The Dominican people must demand human rights, And the Dominican government must respect their human rights. The independent regulatory commission, Domlec and ministers ignored it. The fire will happen again and transformers on public sidewalks in a city that shame them.
    Health are human rights
    Safety are human rights.

  11. Erickson Fabien
    March 16, 2015

    I don’t think it is correct to state that the minister “vow[ed] that he will ensure it never happens again.” His exact words were “Let me just commit myself to the Dominican public to say that we are going to try our best to ensure that this never, ever, ever happens again.” That’s different. He committed himself and his colleagues at the MOH (which is why he used the words “we” and “our”) to TRYING THEIR BEST to ensure that this never happens again. In other words, they will make every possible effort. The minister is smart enough not to stake his position, reputation and, possibly, his political career on a vow to ensure that something over which he has no 24/7 personal control never ever occurs again!

  12. anonymous2
    March 16, 2015

    And how will he do that? People are burning tires all the time in DA. I wonder who or what set them off at the landfill and whether the appropriate person will be prosecuted to set an example. They seem to have no burning regulations in DA. Thus the conclusion is……..nothing will happen to anybody, we just get to breathe toxic smoke.

  13. anonymous
    March 16, 2015

    What precautions will be put in place to ensure it won’t happen again?
    Have any lessons been learned from the incident, or is Dr. Darroux simply saying the fire’s impact was an unavoidable, extremely rare incident?

  14. Lang Mama
    March 16, 2015

    So they covertly attempted to roast and burn PMH Peenez but they overtly smoke and pafimais the tourist and run them out of port.
    Leadership really is what matters. Why not smoke the tourist away so as to control the paros in Roseau

  15. wisewoman
    March 16, 2015

    Did someone set fire to mattresses that had been removed from the hospital because of bedbugs? We heard that they did so, not knowing that there were tires beneath the mattresses. Bad judgement in any case. Negative health effects may not be discovered for years. This is extremely unfortunate. That black smoke was carcinogenic. Worse for very young, elderly and anyone with a compromised respiratory system.

  16. impartial
    March 16, 2015

    Our ministers of Government continue to amaze me. I am perplex by the fact that our ministers can not disseminate simple information to the public. There was a fire. The health minister in his own words knows how the fire started. Then why have the police waste useful time investigating what you already know. According to the minister, someone visited the landfill as customary and tried to burn a few items and the fire got out of control. How does he know that ? then why investigate ? all of our ministers need to take some speaking lessons. They are suppose to be educated therefore, be eloquent and concise.

  17. SN
    March 16, 2015

    There is no way anyone can guarantee there will not be another fire in the landfill when all kinds of substances/liquids are in people’s trash. Some of these substances, when combined, start chemical fires.

  18. Go To Hell!!!
    March 16, 2015

    “This matter is so serious that as we speak, it is being investigated we have called in the police to launch an investigation into what happened because clearly this is unacceptable,” he stated.

    So Mr. Darroux, you really think because the police investigating it you will get to know the true cause of the fire? Didn’t they investigate the GON Emmanuel Christmas Morning fire bomb? Did they find the cause and the culprit?
    This statement of yours left me with two HUGE questions that will open a can of worms and knowing DNO, I know they would not publish them

  19. Go To Hell!!!
    March 16, 2015

    “Health Minister, Dr. Kenneth Darroux, has described a fire at the landfill in Fond Cole as unfortunate and vows that he will ensure it never happens again.”

    DNO, I like Mr. Darrounx because although he is a DLP minister his DNA is loaded with UWP. However, Mr. Darroux must not think all Dominicans are stupid and cannot think. Here is the minister vowing that it will NEVER, ever happen again, but he does not know what caused it. Sounds silly right? Sir, you are a doctor. How do you stop something from happening when you don’t what caused it to happen? How do you stop another person from dying when you don’t know what caused the other person to die?er

    “This matter is so serious that as we speak, it is being investigated we have called in the police to launch an investigation into what happened because clearly this is unacceptable,” he stated. Sir, do you really believe u will get the true cause of the fire simply because the police investigated it?

  20. Malgraysa
    March 16, 2015

    I hope the Minister will be true to his word. A similar undertaking was given by his predecessor Hon. Jon Fabian in 2009 when he gave a directive to Mr. Scotland not to burn tyres at the waste disposal site again. Oviously this has subsequently been ignored.
    – Nobody but authorised DSWM peronnel should handle any waste on the site
    – No burning of waste whatsoever should take place on the site accept in certified incinerator meeting international standards.
    – No tyres should go into the landfill because any fire, even if accidental, will spread rapidly and is almost impossible to control. In addition stockpiled tyres provide an ideal breeding ground for mosquitos (think dengue).
    – We do not have to reinvent the wheel. Follow best practices such as the EU directive for disposal of tyres of 2006.
    Please, show that we care for ourselves and the environment.

  21. Pedro
    March 16, 2015

    Ok the cause is being investigate. And yet you want to almost guarantee a non repeat? “What happened over the weekend, let me say for the record, was very unfortunate,” he said. “As the Minister of Health, let me just commit myself to the Dominican public to say that we are going to try our best to ensure that this never, ever, ever happens again.”

    Its one thing to speak in a n attempt remain relevant, another to be convincing in averting this issue from happening again.

  22. Not a herd follower
    March 16, 2015

    According to Darroux, “This fire was not started, it was not intended and there was no planned burning of tires or any other solid waste at the landfill”.

    How Darroux knows all that when investigations are still ongoing?

  23. LANlu
    March 16, 2015

    ah ah so mr darroux, you playing like you god now… nothing can happen until you give permission

  24. alas
    March 16, 2015

    After that Bitcoin faux pa you expect people to treat that statement with any credibility?
    oh please.
    De investigation at de Douglas-Charles airport complete nuh?
    Skerrit said he knows who did it.
    Your utterances have no facts relating to the fire.
    What does security have to say?
    All of you laborites are bogus.
    I live in the vicinity.
    Generally little burning takes place at the landfill. You didn’t deny that the authorities at the landfill DO IN FACT BURN MATERIAL AT THE LANDFILL.
    you mean i can go to the landfill pretending to throw garbage, start a fire and run away?
    De security at de landfill must be under threat i gather from you.
    bed bugs at de hospital is also a threat to our major hospital as well.
    What a way to start a new administration sir.
    I am embarrassed.
    Thank you Kenneth.
    When was the last time you hear of someone sneaking into the landfill unnoticed just to start a fire?
    you admit that th

  25. Clayton Shillingford
    March 16, 2015

    Let’s hope the investigation will be thorough and results will be made public soon with no cover up for anyone

Post a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

:) :-D :wink: :( 8-O :lol: :-| :cry: 8) :-? :-P :-x :?: :oops: :twisted: :mrgreen: more »

 characters available