BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – OFTEN times, one may hear an individual commenting on a topic of which he/she might not be the authority, and on hearing their comments the ordinary man may take it hook, line and sinker.
Only a few Saturday’s ago, comments were made by prominent attorney-at-law Chesley Hamilton about dealing with crime within the Federation. During his presentation on WINNFM’s ‘Inside the News’ programme, he made mention of the St. Kitts and Nevis Fire and Rescue Services suggesting that its human resource is being underutilized in that the officers are practically sitting in wait for a fire alarm to be triggered when they could be playing a role in the crime-fight.
His comments did not sit well with the Fire Chief Everette O’Garro who, while indicating that his aim is not to engage in any back-and-forth, but rather to educate the public, said the comments were ignorant and not a correct representation of the purpose of and function of the entity.
“Hamilton’s comments were that, “We have over 100 people in that department of the national security budget and they are literally waiting for a fire. Now, I appreciate the work these people are doing, especially those at the airport… but I am simply saying if these persons were peace officers, in the sense that they can provide patrols they are armed and so on, (it) would provide a cushion on of security that we are lacking rather than just have these guys in the fire station waiting for the bell to ring to respond to a fire.
“I am simply saying it is an underutilization of our resources to have over 100 firefighters waiting for a bell to ring whether it’s in Nevis or St. Kitts. I know some of them are gonna vex with me. Even if their pay scale has to change in order to provide the extra work and the extra responsibility, I am simply saying that…it is an underutilization of manpower that can be put to what is a more serious threat to all of our economic and social well-being which is the crime beat. And therefore, even if they are lending some support service in terms of extra patrols at nights…I believe that that too can help to reduce crime, provide information and intelligence that we so need…”
In an interview with SKNVibes Fire Chief O’Garro expressed that Hamilton’s comments suggest that he is not au fait with the operations of the organization which he leads especially since the function of the Department has evolved over the past number of years.
“While not expressing any anger or looking for any back-and-forth, I feel that although he might have been trying to make a positive contribution to the programme, his comments were ignorant, not being familiar with the modern fire services. It is important that he realizes that the roles and functions of a fire officer has evolved over the years. It is no longer that officers are sitting and playing dominos or playing games and waiting for an alarm to go off in a fire house.”
O’Garro explained that a major component of the Fire Department’s function and mandate is to be proactive in fire prevention and safety promotion.
“The biggest part of our job now is fire prevention which means that we have gotten even more proactive and are involved in a number of safety programmes that demand that we are out there in the public passing on important information.
“We have a dynamic ongoing fire-prevention programme and we have not just been reacting to what is happening but we have a programme in place where we set up fire prevention programmes with a number of community groups and organization and businesses. These include Ross University and most if not all the commercial banks in St. Kitts.”
O’Garro said the fire-prevention programmes extend into the education system and ongoing fire-drills are conducted to ensure that businesses understand what measures they are to take in order to prevent fires, or in the event of a fire, minimize its effects to life and property.
“We are also involved in school safety and we are a member of the School Safety Council implemented by the Education Department and we have been proactive in helping to put safety programmes in place to do with ensuring that the schools have implemented the appropriate measures relative to fire prevention.
“We have done fire drills with almost all the major companies in Basseterre and we do it on an ongoing basis to ensure that persons are aware of what to do in the event of a fire and the appropriate measures which should be in place at these establishments.”
The Fire Chief listed the leading of the national search and rescue team and responding to hazmat incidents as other of the Department’s responsibilities.
“We are responsible for responding to hazmat incidents so that situation calls for us to be proactive as well where we have programmes set up where we have to audit all the companies in St. Kitts that use hazardous material, to make sure that we know exactly what these hazardous chemicals are and make sure that we have fire plans in place at these companies and if we have to respond to an incident we know exactly how to respond and what to do…
“So our job involves proactivity, not just sitting down and waiting for an alarm to go down.”
The function and responsibilities of the Fire Department, O’Garro explained, extend beyond what he has outlined. He said he understands wanting to and needing to find a suitable solution for the crime situation in the Federation. However, he indicated that he would not accept comments which suggest his officers are an underutilized and wasted resource.
