Campbell commits to new fire station in Westmoreland Eastern
Published:Tuesday | August 5, 2025 | 12:08 AMAlbert Ferguson/Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
People’s National Party (PNP) General Secretary Dr Dayton Campbell, the party’s candidate for Westmoreland Eastern, says the constituency will get the fire station it was promised years ago, should his party form the government after the looming general election.
Campbell, who was addressing a political meeting at Independence Park in Savanna-la-Mar, Westmoreland, this past Saturday, criticised the lack of adequate fire response infrastructure in the constituency, which is challenging to get to because of the hilly terrain.
“Can you imagine that if there’s a fire, you can’t get one fire truck to come from Savanna-la-Mar ... . You have no fire truck in Darliston, you have no fire truck in Leamington, and you have no fire truck in the Whitehouse Division,” said Campbell. “Under the next PNP government, there must be a fire station in the constituency of Eastern Westmoreland. Time has come now for us to take people’s lives and safety seriously.”
Campbell’s promise comes years after the Westmoreland Municipal Corporation (WMC) proposed the establishment of a fire substation in Bethel Town, a key farming and residential community in the eastern section of the parish.
At the time of the WMC’s announcement, the corporation had contemplated sharing space with the Bethel Town Police Station. It was subsequently decided that the Jamaica Fire Brigade (JFB) would erect the fire station on government-owned lands in the area.
However, the project never got off the ground due to budgetary constraints and lack of capital support from the central government.
Subsequent to the shelving of the project, Savanna-la-Mar Mayor Danree Delancy confirmed that dialogue had taken place with the JFB in the last term and that the corporation had done its part in preparing for the project.
“We had identified a location in Bethel Town and submitted our proposal to the Jamaica Fire Brigade. In our last discussion, they indicated that the area was of high priority, but the project would depend on the availability of funding from the Ministry of Local Government,” Delancy told The Gleaner at the time.
“We still believe that Bethel Town deserves a substation, and we are ready to move once the resources become available,” said Delancy, who has been the councillor for the Bethel Town Division since 1994.
Residents have been advocating for the fire station for many years, having seen many destructive fires over several years, which they watched burning out of control as the fire trucks crawled through the hilly terrain leading up from Savanna-la-Mar into Bethel Town.
“Mi lose mi storeroom a couple years now to fire. The fire truck never reach in time,” said a male resident from Bethel Town, who operates a woodwork shop. “If dem serious ‘bout building a station here, mi support this 100 per cent.”
A retired firefighter, who once served in the parish, said placing a fire station in Eastern Westmoreland is of the utmost importance.
“It is not just necessary, it’s urgent,” said Campbell. “Every year we have bushfires and house fires up there, and nothing near to respond. Bethel Town has been asking for this long time. Nothing nuh come yet.”
Campbell said that under a future PNP government, the proposed fire station would be strategically located and fully equipped, not only to respond to residential fires, but also to tackle agricultural and forest fires which are common in the area.
He also indicated that the fire station would be part of wider rural development plans, including upgrades to health centres, road infrastructure, and the construction of affordable housing.