Firefighters complain about resources to battle effects of hurricane

Nedburn Thaffe Gleaner Writer

Fire fighters at one fire station in the Corporate Area are complaining about the limited and faulty resources given to them to carry out their duties as Hurricane Sandy makes headway to Jamaica.



The fire-fighters who have asked to remain anonymous out of fear of being victimised said that the issues are "recurrent where management seems to take things for granted when critical decisions are to be taken."

"Not even the basic flashlights we don't have, them take them off the truck just to replace the batteries and them no replace them. If you nuh have a flashlight weh you buy fi yourself, you a work inna darkness."

"The flashlights are just there over the years and nobody not replacing the batteries. It is systematic that the things that needs to be done, nobody doing them.

Every time you raise these things it's always a issue of resource, but if you continue to say that all the time, how are we going to function effectively," the fire-fighter questioned.

On top of that fire-fighters are complaining that the trucks they have been given to carry out their duties are without air condition which could affect visibility while travelling.

"When the rain (falls) we have to open the windows so that the windscreen don't become fogged up, a them conditions we a work under."

However when contacted earlier, acting senior deputy superintendent in charge of operation for Kingston and St. Andrew, John Morais said all fire-fighters across the corporate area were briefed on the issue of resource constraint and were asked to work with what was available.

"They were all aware of it. They were addressed up to 10 o'clock this morning. From time to time as government institutions we are short on resources and we just have to rely on our abilities. We are not going to get everything perfect, we just have to improvise," Morais said.

nedburn.thaffe@gleanerjm.com