AN investigation into the cause of Saturday’s fatal explosion in Pier Road will be carried out by independent experts for ‘transparency’ reasons.
Chief fire officer Paul Brown told a press conference yesterday afternoon that outside experts were also being called in due to the local service’s small size.
He said: ‘The most important reason is independence and transparency. The States of Jersey Fire and Rescue Service attended the scene on Friday evening; that has been part of the conversation so far.
‘I think it is important – because my priority is on those who have been lost and people left behind – that everyone is absolutely assured about the openness and transparency and the relentless drive for the truth through facts, and that is why I am determined that we will have an independent view of the cause of the explosion.’
He added: ‘Secondly, it is more practical. This is a large, complex event. It would be large for anyone but for a small service like the States of Jersey Fire and Rescue Service, you can imagine all of our resources have been drawn into the response.
‘So, there is a resourcing issue there as well. We need to reach out in further phases as we have done to partners in the first phase.’
Concerning the Friday call-out, Mr Brown said: ‘There are two statements of fact: one, the States of Jersey Fire and Rescue Service were called and attended the scene at 8.36pm; the other is that the Service handed over to Island Energy at 9.01pm.’
He added that the most appropriate way to convey more information about what happened on Friday evening would be through the investigative process.
‘Island Energy yesterday indicated that the type of explosion often indicates gas, but we do not know that, and I don’t know that either.’
The Chief Fire Officer said that the investigation, which the service would fully contribute to, would be ‘complex and long’.
