By Tyrone Reid, Staff ReporterTHE JAMAICA Fire Brigade's (JFB) islandwide fire hydrant rehabilitation programme is still in limbo due to a dearth in funding.
The initiative, which was ignited in 1999, hit a snag in the middle of last year and it seems that not much has been achieved since then.
This is compounded by the island's need for another 1,650 new fire hydrants a need that also has not been satisfied because of financial constraints.
FUNDS
"As to the money... I am hearing like everybody else that the funds are not there and I can say that too, that the funds are not there but I don't deal with money," stressed Assistant Commissioner Lynden Mattocks, head of the Fire Prevention Division of the JFB.
In 1999 it was established that there were 9,792 fire hydrants in the island. It was reported then that two-thirds of those were defective with 284 needing replacing and others needing different parts.
In the 2003/2004 Estimates of Expenditure, the Government had set aside $70 million to acquire firefighting equipment, to repair fire stations islandwide and to rehabilitate trucks and hydrants.
A mobile Hydrant Repair/ Rehabilitation team was formed in the Corporate Area in 1999, and others in St. Catherine and St. James in 2000 and 2001 respectively. According to the JFB, nine divisions are served by these teams, which travel regularly to do checks and carry out minor repairs and maintenance measures.
MOBILE TEAM
Assistant Commissioner Mattocks explained that the mobile team was still on the road making minor repairs but the hiccups kick in when they come across hydrants that are in need of major repairs. "Yes we are servicing existing hydrants that are in good condition to make certain that they do not reach the point where they become bad. And some of the bad ones that don't need anything major to be done to them, we have actually bring back those into operation."
According to a release from the JFB, since 1999, the rehabilitation team has repaired more than 3,000 hydrants. However, 4,376 hydrants are currently in need of major repairs, some of which need hydrant valves. The situation is a catastrophe waiting to happen, as the extent of the destruction caused by fires is likely to be greater, in instances where firefighters are unable to get water from hydrants.
