A RETIRED firefighter with more than three decades of experience has said that the service would only leave the scene of a suspected gas leak when they were sure it was safe.
Mick Stevens, who is also a former honorary police officer, said he was pleased that it had been made clear by the head of gas utility company Islands Energy Group that an engineer had been called to Haut du Mont on Friday evening by the Fire and Rescue Service, following standard procedure.
Jo Cox confirmed this week that IEG engineers were called out on Friday night, when the Fire and Rescue Service were contacted by residents after they smelled gas.
Mr Stevens said: ‘I appreciate that I have been retired for 20 years but it was always standard practice at any incident where gas is smelt and there is a suspected leak that the gas company is called and both services would attend.
‘If there was any hint of danger, no one from the fire service would have left the scene. In my 34 years of service, we never left an area until we were assured it was safe.
‘In my experience, the gas company had the specialist detection devices to trace the gas and asses the level, and the fire service was there for safety cover.
‘It was always the case that once the gas company assessed the area to be safe, subject to all the proper testing, then the incident was handed over to them.’ He added: ‘I’ve attended many suspected gas leaks and it’s important to say that gas can become untraceable very quickly. It wafts in and out in seconds so can be difficult to detect.’
Ms Cox confirmed that the three-storey block of flats was not connected to the gas supply, but there was a ‘mains network running past it’.
Andium Homes, which ran the flats, yesterday confirmed that in September it instructed Islands Energy to disconnect the redundant supply, which previously served the building, from their mains network.
It is not clear whether that work had commenced.
Mr Stevens stressed that he could only comment as a former firefighter but it was important to say that the service followed well-established policies and procedures.
Meanwhile, Jersey’s fire chief Paul Brown said those involved in the search-and-recovery operation would not stop until every person who had lost their life ‘receives the dignity and care they deserve’.
He also confirmed that specialist firefighters, paramedics and other personnel searching the site of the Pier Road explosion had moved to 12-hour rotations and their welfare was a key priority.
Specialist teams who had flown in from Hampshire and the Isle of Wight on Saturday would remain in the Island ‘for as long as it takes’ and there were no plans for the units to scale back their contribution, he added.
