NATURE, EVEN if disposed to give a warning of impending danger, is not likely to give two. The Jacks Hill conflagration last week which, in the course of getting it under control injured five firemen and threatened a number of residences, is a wake-up call that urgent steps need to be taken to upgrade the island's fire service so that it can cope with potentially dangerous fires.
Only one small fire engine was initially available to deal with the massive bush fire. This truck had to make several trips for water and in the interval the fire spread so rapidly that some residents were in the process of evacuating with whatever possessions they could gather. Eventually, with the help of a team from the Jamaica Defence Force Fire Department and the valiant efforts of the overstretched firemen, the blaze was extinguished.
The Corporate Area is an amalgam of old wooden structures and modern high-rise buildings, including commercial offices and hotels. With a population of over a million persons there is the constant danger that a large fire could break out and spread, causing millions of dollars of property damage and perhaps serious loss of life. Without a properly equipped fire service there is a clear and present danger which we ignore at our peril.
Many of the existing fire engines in Jamaica are old, dilapidated and, more often than not, out of service for lack of spare parts. We urge Government to acquire enough new units to cover all the parishes. The funds must be found despite the budgeted shortfall for the fire service which caused such heated debate in a parliamentary committee recently. While the mobile units take priority the dilapidated state of many of the fire stations must also be addressed.
If new fire engines are acquired we see no reason why suitable private buildings could not be leased to be used as fire stations without much structural alteration. The core of any fire service is its personnel and its basic equipment - everything else is peripheral. We have the personnel.
Government has the duty to provide the equipment before some terrible disaster strikes.
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