ON the heels of a call by former Cabinet Minister Quinton Edness for an inquiry into the causes of the multi-million-dollar Belco fire, a source told the Mid-Ocean News that the disastrous and costly conflagration could have been avoided if a fire suppression system in the switchboard room had been operative.

"There was a fire suppression system in that room, but either it wasn't switched on at that time, or it hadn't been maintained," alleged the industry source.

"Everyone there knows that the system in question is critical, but it's a long time since anything went wrong there, and human nature being what it is, that breeds a casual attitude."

He also maintained that, quite apart from the inoperative fire suppression system, there were warning systems that had been ignored or overridden.

"You can't have that sort of disaster without signals glowing red," he insisted. "I believe that there may have been about a 20-minute period when preventative action could have been taken, but it was 3 o'clock in the morning, and the warning wasn't spotted or was ignored.

"But even at that time in the morning, there should have been at least one person on duty in all of the important areas."

The source spoke of the relative ease with which a good fire suppression system would have dealt with the first flickers of flame.

"The system was meant to use 'Inergen', a gas which removes all of the oxygen from any indoor space in seconds. In fact, it's so good that people would have to be out of the area very quickly indeed, or they'll be in serious trouble.

"You don't want water sprinkling around electric current, but Inergen would have extinguished that fire before it even started. A fire cannot live without oxygen, and Inergen expels all of the oxygen from the space."

A fire suppression specialist said that Inergen was only one of a number of chemical mixtures which had been brought into use as fire suppressants in the '90s when halons were banned as a result of the negative environmental consequences of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs). Another source said the switchboard room was normally kept locked, because of its inherent danger, and it would be considered "non-occupied" for safety purposes. He said that the decision to have a fire-suppressant system in that particular room would depend on many factors, but that the outcome of the system breakdown would suggest that the use of a fire suppression system could have been beneficial.

"Engineers don't necessarily know a lot about fire suppression, but the use of any one of the commercial fire suppression systems could have been in order. I don't know if Inergen was in the building, but it could have done the job.

"But there's also NAF-3, and others recommended by the NFPA (National Fire Protection Association) in the 90's when the CFCs were no longer acceptable. By and large, the manufacturers are mixing three or four alternatives to halon. You can't have water sprinklers around electricity. "

Inergen is an inert gas compound of three fire-suppressant gases, a product of a Tyco group subsidiary.

"You need to have a system which can 'scavenge' the fire successfully," said the expert source, "and it must take into account the nature of the risk factors, as well as the size of the room."

He said that a thorough investigation of all of the consequences would reveal whether there should have been such a system in place in the switching room.

"For Belco, it wouldn't have been a material cost to have a system in that room. It's hard to make even a rough estimate of cost without knowing all of the facts, but it's possible that the room could have had a fire suppressant system for somewhere around $30,000."

The Mid-Ocean News asked Belco if the switchboard room was equipped with a fire suppression system, whether it was appropriately maintained and/or operational, and if not, whether the room and its mechanisms would have been suitable for the installation of such a system.

Spokeswoman Linda Smith said that those questions would be considered as part of the ongoing investigation by Dr. Dawn Miller, who would report her findings directly to the board of Belco.