Massive bush fire engulfs Coral Harbour in Bahamas, spreading rapidly

Nassau, Bahamas: A massive bush fire has been raging near the Coral Harbour roundabout and south of Odyssey Aviation for the last few hours in the Bahamas. The officials said that the firefighters were on the scene attempting to stop the rapidly spreading flames.

The reason behind the bush fire is the persisting dry and arid conditions in the country and because of the high UV and heat indices, the chances of such incidents heightens.

Police officials said that the fire was on both sides of the Coral Harbour Road corridor and asked motorists to avoid the area because of poor visibility.

Meanwhile, Police Press Liaison Chief Superintendent Chrislyn Skippings said that the road will remain closed until the forest fire is under control. “Firefighters are still arduously fighting this fire here that is on both sides of Coal Harbor Road, just south of Odyssey Airport.”

The officer reported that the department reported the fire through a call around 1 am, and the fire is still not under control. She further assured that it poses no threat to any residents or not even to the airport at this particular time.

“The firefighters will remain out here all evening until we’re able to bring this fire under control,” further noted Skippings.

On the other hand, fishermen who have used the area to store boats and traps are saying that they stand to lose hundreds of thousands of dollars if the fire continues to spread.

One of the fishermen said, “Well, I was out there from 1:00 today watching the fire, and I spoke to the fire department. They came down, and they went to the area where the traps are. They look at it, and I hired a backhoe to make like a boundary around it.”

“And just hoping that they don’t, we see it coming closer and closer to us, and we just I was watching for 1:00, but every hour is getting closer and closer. The rough numbers anywhere between about 750 thousand and $1 million between all of us, all of the boat gear in the back there,” he further said, expressing his deep concern.

The bush fire also impacted Bahamas Power and Light Company’s high voltage lines on the Coral Harbour Road.

The senior manager of BPL Arnette Ingraham said that customers in portions of Carmichael Road and Coral Harbour have service because of this following which teams responded and rerouted supply to those customers through a different feed. Ingraham advised the teams will repair the high voltage lines once it is safe to do so.