Abaco Resident: It Was Like the Gates of Hell Opened in the Forest 

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ABACO , BAHAMAS – It was a horrifying experience for Abaco residents, as wildfires burning for days, threatening homes and businesses.

The blazes have kept fire rescue crews busy as they fought tirelessly over the weekend to protect homes, businesses, and lives from raging brush fires.

The dangerous ordeal prompts renewed calls for fire equipment for the family islands.

One Abaconian who came close to losing everything, shared with Our News how the fire came about 40 feet from her home.

She likened it to the gates of hell opening right in front of her.

This was the horrifying scene in the early morning hours this past week for Abaco resident Amy Albury as brush fires ravaged the Abaco forests near her home.

She estimates the fire came up to forty feet from her yard, while volunteer firefighters and residents fought the blaze.

It was still one of the scariest moments of her life, she likened it to a hell like experience.

Amy Albury – Resident of Sweetings Village Abaco

“The only thing I can describe it as when it got just beyond the firebreak, it literally looked like the gates of hell opened in that forest, and it was 20-foot bright red walls of flame.”

But as Amy explained, the dangerous situation didn’t start off that way.

She said they did the best they could to protect their property from being consumed by the fire.

Amy Albury – Resident of Sweetings Village Abaco

“My boyfriend and I, we had sprinklers going in the yard all day long, saturating the grass. We kept spraying the roof with water. When the fire came up from the south, he came outside. The firefighters were fighting the fire, and he was spraying the roof, making sure the embers didn’t catch on the roof.”

When Our News team landed in Abaco Monday, fire rescue teams were still on the lookout for hot spot areas that could reignite.

Firefighters rushed to the area behind the agape christian school to quickly extinguish a small fire before it spread.

Residents are thankful to a foreign homeowner who sponsored this plane that traveled from Texas with the ability to drop 900 gallons of water over the fire.

Volunteer firefighter Stephen Llida says they’ve been battling blazes off and on for about three weeks.

But he doesn’t believe the fires are happening naturally.

Stephen Llida – Volunteer Fireman at Marsh Harbour Volunteer Fire Service

“Fires don’t just erupt at 10:00 at night, so we really really do ned the public support and help in identifying the people that are starting these fires. We are exhausted. A lot of us have been going 24/7 over nine days and off and on in this last period for the last three weeks.”

Roscoe Thompson – Dispatcher at Marsh Harbour Volunteer Fire Service

“Philip Davis, please, sir, stop traveling and invest in some of our fire equipment that is needed through our family islands and Nassau.”

Stephen Llida – Volunteer Fireman at Marsh Harbour Volunteer Fire Service

It’s the equipment needed. We do have quite a bit of equipment, and like I said, it’s old, donated, and it’s old equipment which needs consistent maintenance, all the help we can get.”