The Fire Department says they have surpassed the number of fires this year compared to 2017.
Fire Chief Elvis Weaver says so far for the year they have answered to 520 calls compared to 445 last year. He says the increase is as a result of more bush fires brought on by the dry weather.
“We had a dry spell early on in the year,” explained Weaver,“A lot of grass and brush fires and that’s what took the amount of fires up… to well over 500 so far for the year.”
However, the Fire Chief says majority of the causes of house fires turn out to be as a result of electrical faults
And while the department has been able to respond to these annual fires, Weaver has made requests for at least three new fire trucks that he believes will significantly improve the services of the fire department.
“We need some trucks that are more [structurally sound] because those that we have are getting old.”
The fire chief has made a presentation to the Cabinet of Antigua and Barbuda which he says that it have accepted in principle.
“The Cabinet has agreed,” said Weaver.
The Fire Chief went on to say that, once approved, the fire tenders would take approximately one year to be ordered, built to specification and delivered to the fire department. Each tender is estimated to cost between EC $1– 2 million.
“85 percent of the workload is split between the St. John’s and the All Saints Station’s. Two of the trucks would be placed at St. John’s with and one at All Saints.”
Apart from these new trucks, Weaver continues to petition for the Fire and Police departments to be separated. He says such a move would allow the fire department to focus on the needs of the fire service in the country rather than having the efforts split between both services.
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It is a fact that some of the present Fire Tenders have done their time, therefore consideration should be given for a new fleet before the present ones start breaking down one after the other then there will be a major problem. They are expensive yes, but they are of necessity, even one per year until the maximum is reached.
….On the other hand, this man has been lobbing for separation from the Police for years because he has his agenda. He doesn’t want to work with the Police, he doesn’t want to answer to any Commissioner of Police. He wants to do as he likes and he is not capable of running the Dept. He cannot speak properly, very disrespectful, he is not a role model for his subordinates, when he has meetings we will know his agenda before the meeting since it is the same thing he speaks about that makes no sense ( when he was a young officer, the Dominica Fire Dept, promotion and other foolishness) not of the interest of the men and women under his command. The conditions under which some of us are working are deplorable. Termites, rodents, mosquitoes you name them and that does not interest him..Mr Commissioner, you need to look into the Operations at the FB urgently before things get worst. Don’t let them fool you. Mr PM and Minister, NO SEPARATION, not ready for that yet. He want to put his people in top positions over others which is not fear. The main thing is he just cannot manage. Some of us are overworked while some are liming daily, and never work at night. Mr Commissioner do you know who owns the shop on the premises at St John’s Fire Station?….check it out Sir.
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