Nagra Plunkett, Staff ReporterWESTERN BUREAU: IN LIGHT of the stressful conditions being experienced by personnel at the St. James Fire Department, the leadership of the department has resorted to outside help to keep firefighters motivated and focused.
"When they are incapacitated to carry out duties, it brings on stress at times, so we have to bring in motivational speakers to speak to them from time to time," said Deputy Superinten-dent Homer Morris, the officer in charge of operations.
The fire department, made up of the Montego Bay and Ironshore fire stations, is woefully short of equipment. Currently, there are only two operational fire trucks, out of a total fleet of 11.
The 30-year veteran ex-plained that one unit was destroyed in a motor vehicle accident while the others, including the sole unit for the Ironshore station, have mechanical defects. The department, which has 163 personnel, responds to between 1,500 and 1,700 fires on an annual basis.
For Acting Corporal Dwight Cardoza, the situation is depressing. "It is very disheartening to see when civilians abuse firefighters because they are not fully aware of the challenges that we face," he argued. "At times I feel like giving up but I have to hope that the authorities will come through and put in the necessary infrastructure."
IMPROVISATION
Almost two weeks ago, the department could not respond promptly to a fire at Railway Lane that destroyed several houses and left 47 persons homeless, as its working pumper unit and accompanying water truck were at the scene of another fire.
"Without the necessary resources, we have to improvise at times. There are no beaters so when we go to bush fires. We have to pick branches off trees and that is a simple example. There is no breathing equipment and we have to be inhaling all these fumes, which could prove hazardous to our health," said Carlington Beason, a fireman of six years.
Among the crucial pieces of equipment needed by the department are a foam tender, turntable ladder, snorkel, rescue tender, fireboat, two major pumpers and two mini pumpers.
While the resort city of Montego Bay is dotted with high-rise buildings, firefighters can only tackle blazes as high as 80 feet with a snorkel, which is on loan from the Jamaica Fire Brigade. Interestingly, Cornwall Regional Hospital, the main health facility in western Jamaica, is taller than this specified height.
"Our original snorkel, out for the longest while, can go as high as 120 feet. It could be affixed on top of our hospital (Cornwall Regional)," DSP Morris noted.
He said the shortages are routinely documented in the monthly reports compiled by the department.
