Fire investigators have concluded that arson is the likely cause of the massive Christmas Day fire at the Tynes Bay Waste Treatment Facility - a fire which they believe was the biggest the Island had seen in more than a decade.

And The Royal Gazette can reveal Fire Service will be holding talks with Government about the build up of waste at the Tynes Bay Waste Facility as some of the waste material that caught fire had been waiting to be processed since Hurricane Fabian in 2003.

Fire Service spokesman Lt. Dana Lovell admitted yesterday that the fire investigator's file on the fire would be turned over to Police as the incident warrants a criminal investigation.

“There is a strong possibility it was set on purpose,” Fire Service Lt. Dana Lovell said yesterday. “In the final determination, there was no evidence to support that the cause of the fire could have been caused by spontaneous combustion given the various types of materials that were being stored”.

“Given the rapid development of the fire from the time of the initial alarm there is a possibility that the fire was deliberately set by persons unknown to us at this time.

“The Fire Service will initiate and hold discussions with the Tynes Bay Officials to require them to implement recommendations to prevent a similar occurrence in the future,” Lt. Lovell said.

Wood-chippings and bulky wood -lumber from all over the Island, particularly construction sites, were found in the smouldering ashes of the fire, he said, adding: “Storage built up over a very long period of time. Mattresses, carpets, underlay and other waste was also kept in the area.”

And it was a faulty “waste stream” - similar to a large conveyer belt loaded with sorted trash - that let the Tynes Bay tinder box grow. “One of the reasons for this (build-up of materials) was that one of the incinerator waste streams was down. They were unable to burn a lot of this waste. Some of the things they were storing went back to Fabian, 2003,” he said.

And he said there was no evidence at all to point to the fire being caused by an act of God or natural process.

“And also when you look at the rapid development of the fire there is the possibility the fire was deliberately set.”

He explained on a normal day the Fire Service could reach Tynes Bay in six minutes, and even less on a public holiday - Christmas Day in particular as there was even less traffic on the roads.

But he said it was “a fully developed fire - a huge fire” by the time the Fire Service got there.

The Fire Service was now going to refer the matter to the Police as “it surely warrants further investigation,” Lt. Lovell said.

When asked about whether the facility having spark-arresters to stop embers flying out the top of the incinerator stack, he said “to the best of my knowledge Tynes Bay meets all the safety features in question”.

And Lt. Lovell refused to answer if Tynes Bay needed more security, replying that he is “not a security expert”.

He said the Fire Service first received the call about the fire at 6.51 p.m. on December 25, 2004.

Twenty-one vehicles responded to the inferno, including: fire trucks, command vehicles, water tankers and an aerial platform.

Sixty-five firefighters - all wearing breathing apparatus - were deployed to get the fire under control, extinguish and monitor it over a 40 hour period for a total of 599 man-hours of work, almost exclusively on a public holiday.

At least a half dozen neighbouring houses were affected by smoke damage.

“There was damage to the furnishings, like sofas, anything open and exposed to the air, anything smoke was able to penetrate like an open window,” he said.

“The roofs were heavily contaminated and this contaminated the drinking water to the same houses.”

But the Fire Service was unable to put a number on the amount of smoke damage at this time, Lt. Lovell said.

“We don't have a final figure or dollar sign amount on the actual damages. The homeowners will have to seek out their individual insurance companies to see how much it costs to clean their roofs and empty their water tanks,” he said.

Detailing some of the effort firefighters undertook to beat the blaze, Lt. Lovell said they had to use a hydraulic ladder truck - to try and control the flames with numerous streams of water, adding: “The flames were upwards of 70 to 80 feet.”

He said it was fortunate that no fire fighters, residents or Works & Engineering staff were injured.

Admitting “there is always the possibility for injury, as fatigue sets in. The firefighters were very, very tired,” Lt. Lovell admitted that all of Palmetto Road had to be shut off from traffic because of the heavy smoke.

He added: “It was the largest fire the Bermuda Fire Service has encountered in at least ten years.”

Government's Department of Communication and Information said yesterday they had not received anything about the Tynes Bay Fire Investigation from the Bermuda Fire Service.