I refer to the article ‘My children were safe but the rest of my family was burning – An animal park fire took three hours to bring under control’ (October 7).

The Civil Protection Department would like to make thefollowing points.

The first fire engine to arrive at the animal park departed from Corradino fire station and took 23 minutes to make the trip.

The first call about the fire reached our control room at 5.45am and the first vehicle arrived at 6.08am. Therefore, it is inaccurate to state that we received the call at 5am and that it took us 45 minutes to arrive.

Two more fire engines arrived at the animal park five minutes later.

A time span of 23 minutes from Corradino to Mtaħleb is more than reasonable.

Initially, we had 10,000 litres of water, which is a very small amount for that kind of blaze. The officer in charge asked private suppliers to provide more water, as is the normal practice in case of fierce fires. It took the private suppliers a while to arrive due to traffic and the stormy weather. However, in the meantime, the officer in charge was notified that there was a reservoir nearby. This prompted him to create a water relay to continue extinguishing the fire with no interruptions.

It is quite reasonable for a fire of those dimensions to take three hours to exinguish. One must keep in mind that Civil Protection Department personnel were risking their lives in surroundings where gas cylinders were exploding and the cage structures were melting. The firefighters were also facing a situation where exotic animals such as lions, tigers and bears were even more dangerous than usual due to their terror and distress.

For the time being, we shall refrain from commenting about the park’s fire safety precautions as we await the magisterial inquiry’s conclusions.