Handing Over Ceremony
What is perhaps one of the most versatile fire trucks to have been acquired by Anguilla was officially handed over to the Anguilla Fire and Rescue Service at the Clayton Lloyd International Airport on Tuesday, February 11.
The vehicle is in excellent condition with a mileage of four thousand miles on its speedometer. It was financed out of a three million pound (EC$12 million) capital grant to the Anguilla Government, from the British Government, announced last year. Working with the Ministry of Infrastructure and Communications, and the Ministry of Finance, the Governor’s Office agreed to the purchase of the Fire Engine from this fund. The truck and its equipment cost thirty-nine thousand pounds which translates to over one hundred and seventy thousand East Caribbean dollars.
Tuesday’s handing-over ceremony was chaired by Station Officer, Mr Shondell Hodge, on behalf of Chief Fire Officer Mr Martin Richardson and the other Fire Fighters. “I am proud to witness the advancement of the Anguilla Fire and Rescue Service,” he told the official gathering. “By making such an investment highlights the significance of the service that is being provided. However, I would like to urge all those in attendance not to forget the real commitment and dedication that is required to be a fire fighter. Each fire fighter, when he or she enters the service, pledges to undertake his or her duty to protect the Anguillian community each day.”
Mr Hodge went on: “By acquiring this appliance it aids one of the Department’s greatest challenges ever since the horrific overturning of the previous domestic appliance in July 2009. The Anguilla Fire and Rescue Service was left in a very compromising position as it relates to having a reliable first-line vehicle. The vehicle currently in use was donated by the Trinidad and Tobago Fire Service. It was pulled off the run because of its manufactured shelf life, but had to serve several years beyond the recommended shelf life… which made it very unreliable.”
Minister of Infrastructure and Communications, Mr Evan Gumbs, was grateful to the UK Government, Governor Christina Scott and the Anguilla Government for their assistance in the provision of the fire truck. He was also grateful to Mr Jim Bunting, Consultant to the Anguilla Fire and Rescue Service, for sourcing and selecting the vehicle in England.
He was happy with the arrival of the truck, noting that the airport was closed on several occasions due to the lack of a proper fire tender. “It cost me a bit during those times because I wanted to see the airport opened – so I spent quite an amount of money in assisting in that area, and I thank everyone who played an important role in getting the fire tender here,” he stated. He urged the fire fighters to do their best to protect the equipment and applauded them for their work in keeping the island safe from fires.
Governor Scott said “the new shining fire truck” was the result of some very close collaboration between the British Government, the Fire Department, the Fire Adviser and the MICUH in particular, in getting the truck to Anguilla. She was aware that there were “aspirations to get more equipment on the island soon, so that the physical resources are in place to provide the right sort of support for the safety of Anguilla and those people who are visiting us.”
Governor Scott added: “The infrastructure and the equipment are only part of the story. The real asset is the human resource, so let me add my thanks and commendation to the members of the fire service who do so much on a daily basis…to provide high levels of security. I really applaud them all for the work they do in the community – improving awareness of fire safety, working with businesses to do risk assessments and industry as well. They are making sure the right and preventative measures are in place, and the people have the right plans in place, so that when things go wrong there are agreed procedures for responding effectively.”
Mr Bunting, the Fire Service Consultant, said the fire fighters “had put up with a fire truck that should have been scrapped years ago. I am not going to make any apologies for saying it. It should have been scrapped years ago and these guys have put up with it,” he stated. “They have been out to dangerous situations – to house fires, very serious road traffic collisions, and the equipment they had to use was substandard.”
Mr Bunting said he was working to make further improvements to the Fire and Rescue Service. One of the coming achievements is a sister fire truck with a big water tank. The vehicle is expected to arrive in Anguilla on Saturday, February 22. The Fire Service Consultant made the point that with this additional equipment “there will be something that Anguilla has never had before: the ability to respond not just to east or just to west, but to respond to east and west at the same time which is a big plus.”
The handing-over ceremony was followed by an inspection of the truck and related equipment, and a demonstration of some of its state-of-the-art capabilities.
