BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – OVER the course of the Fire Department’s Summer Safety Programme, which was held on both St. Kitts and Nevis, four youngsters were bestowed the title of Junior Fire Chief and a similar amount were named Junior Deputy Fire Chief.
The programme, held under the theme “Children’s Safety is Our Responsibility”, was conducted on Nevis from July 8-10 and in St. Kitts from July 24-27.
The St. Kitts leg of the programme was simultaneously ran at the Basseterre, Tabernacle and Sandy Point Fire Stations.
At the end of the programme, which saw in excess of 300 students being taught the Principles of Traffic, Water and Fire Safety as well as Disaster Tips, Jeromie Thomas of the Tabernacle Fire Station, Jahavier McKoy of the Basseterre Fire Station, Khaleel Glascow of Nevis and Kronique Drew of the Sandy Point Fire Station were named Junior Fire Chiefs of the programme.
The Junior Deputy Fire Chiefs are Earnest Hendrickson of the Sandy Point Fire Station, Jahnessa Francis of Nevis, Ayana Tyson of the Tabernacle Fire Station and Nkosi Newton of the Basseterre Fire Station.
These youngsters were all given plaques upon which their designations were inscribed.
In giving an overview of the programme, Fire Sub-Officer Garfield Hodge said it is one a step in achieving a safer nation.
“The children were taught life-saving skills that they are expected to take to their families and friends, thus helping to ensure safer communities and ultimately a safer society. Then there is no limit on what a safe nation can achieve. The children were strategically selected from all elementary schools within the Federation.
‘So a safe nation is by no means far-fetched after all. For the first two days of this camp, the programme was staged in three separate locations…Tabernacle, Sandy Point and the Basseterre Fire District.”
Hodge said he expects that the messages of Traffic, Water and Fire Safety would proliferate.
“Today’s we’ve converged with scores of children totalling over 300; the likes of which we have never seen. This undoubtedly speaks to the growing success of this thriving programme and, undeniably, this is as a result of extensive planning and hard work of a committee that was carefully selected by our Chief Fire Officer Mr. Everette O’Garro and coordinated by Fire Sub-Officer Mr. Lesroy Caines.”
Officer Hodge expressed that in some regards the impact of the programme could be quantified. However, “there is no telling how many lives have been saved and are being saved as a result of this programme”.
