Burning problem for MoBay

 The fire fighters at the St. James Fire Department in Jamaica are restive as they are unable to sufficiently serve the public due to the lack of vital equipments and facilities to conduct their duties.

With the absence of a fireboat, shortage of protective gear, limited personnel and the absence of a refilling plant breathing apparatus the firefighters are  having a difficulty meeting their obligations to all areas in the parish.

Serving a population of just over 184,854 in St. James, the fire department continues operate with a meager contingent of just 174 personnel. In addition, only eight of 13 fire-fighting units are in working condition.

With their proposed new home at Barnett Street still an empty lot and its other locations below par, frustration and discomfort presents huge hurdles for the parish’s firefighters.

“We are really having some challenges,” said a despondent Dolfin Doeman, the acting superintendent in charge of the St. James Fire Department.

“We just have to look at each problem and work through it” he noted.

As it relates to the shortage of staff, “what we have had to do is to rotate staff, giving persons additional hours to work” Doeman revealed.

In a bid to address the lack of a breathing apparatus refilling plant, the fire department have had to solicit the services of private companies which is proven to be quite expensive.

On April 2 of last year, a fire destroyed a section of the Barnett Street Police Station in Montego Bay that caused the city’s Mayor Charles Sinclair to lash out at the shortcomings of a fire station for the city.

“The absence of a fire station in Montego Bay now has caused the fire department to operate from different locations which is unfair to the persons who have to respond to fires. You can’t have a part of the fire department on Fort Street and one at Freeport, that doesn’t make any sense. I’m calling on the Minister Robert Montague and the prime minister to honour the reconstruction of a fire station for Montego Bay,” the mayor stressed at the time of the April 2 fire.

Neil Findlay, the deputy commissioner with responsibility for administration at the Jamaica Fire Brigade, revealed that it will cost over $200 million to construct the proposed new fire headquarters on Barnett Street (downtown Montego Bay).  Money from the Tourism Enhancement Fund was earmarked for the purchase of a fireboat to protect the tourism capital’s marine coast however there is still no fireboat.