By NICO SCAVELLA

Tribune Staff Reporter

nscavella@tribunemedia.net

MICAL MP V Alfred Gray yesterday defended his handling of the fires in Crooked Island, rejecting assertions that he “sleeps while Crooked Island burns” as “utter rubbish”.

Mr Gray said up until Tuesday, the advice the government had received from the fire department was that “there was no need to send any equipment at that time”.

However, he said when he called the island Tuesday, he got “different advice.” He said a Royal Bahamas Defence Force (RBDF) vessel was subsequently loaded with fire engines and other equipment and left for Crooked Island Tuesday evening.

Mr Gray also said he, along with head of Police Fire Services Superintendent Walter Evans and some of his crew, also visited the island on Tuesday. He said this was one of several trips he has made to Crooked Island personally since the fires started “to ensure that I keep an eye on what was going on.”

Mr Gray’s comments come after James Edwards, a disgruntled Crooked Island resident, criticised the MICAL MP for the government’s poor reaction to the massive fires on the island. Mr Edwards, in an open letter to Mr Gray, claimed his family has been subjected to inhaling “thick billows of thick black smoke” for the past three weeks.

Mr Edwards said he was “beyond baffled and heartbroken” that as parliamentarians sleep “like babies in your gated communities at night,” the residents of Crooked Island suffer.

However, Mr Gray questioned whether Mr Edwards was on the island, or only reporting second-hand information.

“Over the last several weeks Crooked Island fires were burning but it was more or less miles in the bushes with an occasional roadside flare,” Mr Gray said yesterday. “We act on the advice of the fire department, Mr Evans. Based on that advice, the government was told that there was no need to send any equipment at that time.

“Up to [Tuesday] that was the advice. Yesterday [Tuesday] when I called the island I was getting different advice, that we should do what we need to do to send equipment, and that’s what the government did. We took a flight, Evans, myself and some of his men, flew to Crooked Island, the defence force boat was loaded with fire engines and other equipment and it should have left yesterday evening.

“But to suggest that while Gray sleeps, Crooked Island burns is just a lie. I have made several trips to Crooked Island personally to ensure that I keep an eye on what was going on, and Mr Edwards who every year…I don’t think he even lives in Crooked Island.

“He’s probably reporting what he hears, and he has a right to lambaste me if that’s what he wants to do, but I only seek to give the truth.”

Mr Gray added: “As the MP I don’t think anybody who knows me and knows how I represent my people will agree with nonsense, that while Crooked Island burns Gray sleeps.

“Nonsense, foolishness, garbage - it’s utter rubbish. One thing that I do is represent the people of MICAL always to the best of my ability.”

The Tribune managed to contact Supt Evans yesterday morning, but he said that he was still in the process of making a full assessment of the situation on the island. Attempts to call Mr Evans later yesterday afternoon were unsuccessful up to press time.

The fires in question were first acknowledged on March 31 when a resident of Crooked Island phoned into the “Hard Copy” radio talk show hosted by Steve McKinney on Peace 107.5FM to express concern about the burning. Fires were initially reported in Major’s Cay, Colonel Hill, Cabbage Hill and Landrail Point.

Shortly after the complaint was lodged, Mr Gray phoned the talk show to clarify the status of the fires.

At the time, Mr Gray noted that the blaze posed no immediate danger to any home or property. Fire services personnel were dispatched from New Providence to Crooked Island the following Sunday.

In the days that followed, residents in Acklins, the island adjacent to Crooked Island, reported seeing “thick, black smoke” emanating from the island.

On Monday, Crooked Island and Long Cay Administrator Francita Neely told The Tribune that of the four fires, officials on the ground were able to “curtail” three thus far. The fourth, the blaze originally affecting Cabbage Hill, had spread near Johnny Hill as a result of “ever-changing wind.”