by Winston Strachan
To Whomsoever It May Concern
I felt the need to write this letter after witnessing live via the NOW Grenada website what appeared to be a commercial building on fire at Paddock in St George around 10:30 am on the morning of 17 December 2019.
I was shocked and extremely concerned after seeing the inability and failure of the local firefighters to get a grip of the incident and bring the fire under control. DVD recordings of the incident are available and I hope whomsoever is responsible for our fire and rescue services will look carefully at these recordings and take whatever action is necessary to improve the service with good intention to reduce risk to firefighters, the general and property.
The service is inadequate and therefore not fit for purpose. Consequently, a drastic improvement service plan such as an Integrated Risk Management Plan (IRMP) is required; sectioned into perhaps three strategic objectives, keeping our communities safe and well, keeping firefighters safe and well, and making best use of resources align well with three pillars of inspection framework: effectiveness, efficiency and people.
Questions must be asked. The St George’s town fire station is only three minutes away from the incident, yet the fire was allowed to spiral out of control in what was normal atmospheric conditions, i.e. it was not windy on the day. How long did it take the first fire crew to arrive following the report of a fire? What time did the backup crew from Grand Anse arrive? And why did the service have to rely on the services of the crew from Maurice Bishop International Airport to bring the fire under control?
Was this because of their height-reaching equipped vehicle? One clearly noticed an immediate dampening down of the blaze that was coming through the roof of the building once the airport crew took control using their height-reaching vehicle. Their hoses’ water pressure also appeared to be superior, direct on target, extremely effective and efficient. Their professionalism was something to be admired.
Firefighters need to be properly trained for the tasks ahead. They also need to be physically fit and kitted out with adequate clothing (the latest safety visible available toolkit) and firefighting equipment including reach ladders/hoists and up-to-date breathing apparatus that are tested and certified base on manufacturer’s specification. The service needs to be inspected by an independent authority at least every three years with findings, including weaknesses and recommendations made public.
What we also want from our fire and rescue service is effectiveness such as:
- Preventing fires and other risks: The service should ensure it allocates enough resources for prevention work. It should evaluate its prevention work, so it understands the benefits better.
- Protect the public through fire regulation: The service should assure itself that its risk-based inspection programme includes proportionate activity to reduce risk.
- Responding to fires and other emergencies: The service should ensure it has an effective system for staff to use learning and debriefs to improve operational response and incidents command.
Keeping the public and their property, including businesses, safe from harm and the risk from fires cost money, however, it is a price we all should be willing to pay to protect our homes and our family. The government has a choice to make in raising the necessary revenue to provide us with adequate protection from the risk of fires. Businesses, especially the insurance industry, should be prepared to contribute towards a one-off levy on their profits ring-fenced towards the upgrading of our fire and rescue service. Indeed, it is within their interest since the locations of our fire stations are clearly to protect big businesses and not householders.
One should consider this. If the fire crew on the Carenage could not prevent the building at Paddock from being engulfed in flames, what are the chances of properties situated in the suburban areas of the city? And one of the key factors in this is our emergency services response time which should be public knowledge. Without knowing this it would be extremely difficult to improve the emergency services the public is receiving.
At the time of day of the Paddock fire, the response time from the fire crew on the Carenage should have been approximately 3 minutes; the crew from Grand Anse, 8 minutes and the crew from Maurice Bishop International Airport approximately 13 minutes. It would be interesting to see the official response time of all 3 crews.
i’ve been saying for years that fire and rescue services needs to be seriously upgraded on the island.Our leaders travel the world over looking for financial assistance and investment but never ask for ambulances or fire engines along with training of personel who in return can train folks at home so that we can have qualified first responders .We must remember that first responders saves lives.I honestly dont believe that there will be much difficulties in getting developed countries to assist with such a request.its something our govt. should consider.we’re just not equipped and its been like that since i was a boy.
Nothing has changed in over 50 years. Never in the history of the so-call fire service has a building been saved, simply because these guys have no fire fighting know-how. The only thing you can depend on them for, is telling you the time every morning when they rev-up the engines and run the horns at 6 o’clock. I recall the days when the soaps “the young and the restless” were being played on the radio, you could not get them to leave the station to put out a fire. It is so embarrassing to know that these guys have no mechanical, electrical, carpentry or technical skills as required in developed countries. They sit on their lorels all day and get fat on tax payers. money. Does anyone pay attention to the firetruck graveyard in Point salines? With every donation, these trucks are habitually ran into total disrepair and then discarded; This applies to all Government vehicles, including Ambulances and Police vehicles. Grenada need real soul surcharging!!
All the above mentioned could be resolve the first thing that needs to happened is to separate the fire service from the RGPF they have proven time and time again that it cannot work get volunteers to do that I am very willing to give back to my country get professionals to do the training .
Am really sorry to say but Grenada doesn’t have a fire service to deal with any kind of fire. It’s about time for the government start getting this department up to the full potential. having a proper trained and fully functional fire team that can actually get fire under control. A team that knows what that are doing.
Grenadian firefighters are useless, every time I’ve heard of a fire engulfing they always arrive to dampen down the fire, it’s always out of control and never contained, I know I sound a bit harsh on them but there’s something fundementaly wrong with this service
Yes, time for changes. Educated fire crew, equipment handling. What went wrong here? It should be taken as a lesson,thankfully it didn’t get worse. Obviously the airport has better equipment and trained fire crew.
Time for the country to step into 2020 and stop living in the past. There is no reason for Grenada to have insufficient equipment and resources.