The Bermuda Fire Service had pre-planned the way they would fight any fires at the Bermuda Electric Light Company.

Head of the Training Department of the Bermuda Fire Service, Lt. Lloyd Burchall, said he already had a good idea of the layout of the Belco power plant before a huge fire there on July 14 plunged the Island into darkness.

?One of the factors that really helped us is that we do pre-planning of high risk areas and schools, hospitals, and all the major buildings in (Hamilton) to know what we are up against,? Lt. Burchall said. ?The crew themselves make themselves familiar with the facilities and Belco was one of the facilities we kept track of.?

He said had they not known the layout of the plant in advance they would not have known what buildings in the plant to keep the fire spreading to.

?One of the most challenging things was actually being able to get to the fire, because the construction of the building was very solid. It had small entrances into the building and no windows. It was like a bunker,? Lt. Burchall said. ?You basically had an oil fire contained in a building, which made it very difficult to fight.?

He said it was not until the walls were breached that sufficient water was able to cool the fire. To protect nearby buildings they were drenched with water to keep them cool.

Last Christmas Day there was a fire near outside the Tynes Bay Waste Treatment Facility. It was later reported this fire was started by arsonists.

Fire Service Divisional Officer Anthony Caisey said: ?It was a very draining type of fire, we could not attack it as you could a conventional fire. We had to depend upon heavy equipment operators to cool the fire. There was tons of combustible materials. Any and everything was up there and that?s what helped to make that fire so intense. It was piled 30 to 40 feet high and covered a sizeable area. It was a fire that lasted. Perseverance and doggedness got it done.

D.O. Caisey said the other major fire of 2005 included the Easter Sunday bus fire in Somerset, although there was no threat to life.

Seven Public Transportation Board buses were set ablaze by arsonists.

?Having to deal with a long row of buses in a very small area, was a challenge, we also had very little water to fight the fire,? Lt. Burchall said. ?You had to get in quite close and very conscious that water did not become an issue. We had a tanker on the road. Fortunately by law we can basically obtain water from any households tank but we replace any water we take and fill it right up.?

In March, 12 firefighters in five trucks battled a blaze at a cycle shop in Sandys. It was in a confined space and other buildings needed to be looked after,? D.O. Caisey said.

One male employee of Karibuni Ltd. was taken to the hospital for treatment after inhaling smoke.

And in April, a massive fireball engulfed the bottom half of the Whaler Inn, Southampton, and terrified visitors.