Newsletters
Winter06 | 08/01/06| 12/18/05 | 12/05/02 | 11/06/02
Wednesday November 6, 2002
FIRE!
People came rushing into the yard at noon to tell us that there
had been a small explosion and the HBS power plant was on fire.
You could see the huge billowing dark clouds of smoke rising high
above the oak and palm trees. The power plant is located adjacent
to the hospital and housed five standby generators. Though we did
not know it at the time, an electrical fire was ignited by a switch
failure when a jolt of electricity was sent out by the local utility.
By the time HBS maintenance men arrived at the plant it was too
late to do anything. The door was closed but big red angry flames
and black smoke were billowing out of the doors and windows.
Sandra, our Personnel Director, called the Cap Haitian Fire Department
who sent out a truck and crew arriving within 30 minutes. These
trained men used big hoses and foam to douse the flames. HBS personnel
heroically rushed forward to cut off the outside fuel tank valves,
so no more diesel fuel would pour into the house. It was a big hot
angry fire fueled by the diesel fuel day tank housed in the complex.
Thanks to the huge efforts of all, we suffered no personal injuries
or any additional property loss.
In a very short time, everyone realized that the damage was unimaginable,
with five generators, ATS switches, transformers, fuel tanks, spare
parts and the building badly damaged. What a disaster!
Our first concern was to get back partially operational. Borrowing
a small 15Kw, single phase standby generator and a of couple manual
switches from neighboring projects, the maintenance men were able
to hook into a single phase of the electrical system within 24 hours,
alternating between the standby engine and the local utility. Being
used to having electricity 24 hours a day, we have gotten very dependent
upon this. All of the water for the hospital and the town of Limbe
are pumped by the HBS electrical system. Providing a quarter of
the power required for HBS normal operation, folks had to be cautioned
not to use fans or too many lights. Each night the generator must
be shut down from 9:30 PM and start up again at 6:30 in the morning.
The wards use kerosene lanterns or rechargeable lanterns for back
up at night. Even for sterilizing, we are not able to use electric
power, but instead must make do with the propane sterilizer in surgery.
The daily routine of the hospital and outpatient clinic continue
on this way awaiting a more concrete and positive solution. We are
losing medical equipment as a indirect result of the fire as the
power provided from the utility is not that stable. The biggest
loss was our x-ray machine, which burned out within a week and will
need replacing.
Once the electricity was partially reestablished, then came the
phase of accessing the situation and making the painful decisions
of where to go next. Over $ 50,000.00 worth of equipment was destroyed
with an equal amount of damage to the power plant building. It is
needless to point out how discouraged everyone was. Many talks took
place between HBS Florida and HBS Haiti and with a number of friends
of HBS. Finally it was decided to order and purchase a pair of backup
generators with electrical supplies and ship them to HBS Haiti to
run at an alternate location. HBS would borrow the monies required
for this emergency project and hope and pray that donations would
come in to pay the bills. A lot of work needs to be done in the
meantime to order, ship and assemble all of the equipment to pack
in a shipping container in Ft Lauderdale, Florida by 26 November
as the next available shipping date is 29 November. The initial
price tag is estimated at $ 40,000.00 though we can already see
that it will cost much more to rebuild and replace lost equipment.
We thank all of you for your concerns and words of encouragement.
Please keep praying that this difficult situation will soon be resolved.
Not only do the sick people depend upon the hospital, but the whole
community really feels blessed to have water in their homes and
the public fountains in town. Continue to pray that the work here
can go forward.
"We are troubled on every side, yet not
distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but
not forsaken, cast down, but not destroyed".
2 Corinthians 4:8-9
We will continue to update you as to the progress that is being
made to alleviate this crisis.
Joanna Hodges
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