Chief Fire Officer Zebalon A. McLean said that the VI Fire and Rescue continues to be hamstrung by lack of up to date firefighting equipment and as such has to make do with what it has until better can be provided, resulting in the closure of the East End and West End fire stations. Photo: VINO/File

Speaking to this news site on Monday May 4, 2015 McLean said that the appliances that the Service continues to utilise are way past their useful life and have reached a point where repairs and rehabilitation begin to become a drain on resources. Photo: VINO/File

The East End/Long Look fire station. Photo: VI Fire & Rescue

The West End Fire Station in Capoon's Bay. Photo: VI Fire & Rescue

One of the fire trucks that should have already been taken out of service. Photo: Provided

Speaking to this news site on Monday May 4, 2015 McLean said the appliances that the service continues to utilise are way past their useful life and have reached a point where repairs and rehabilitation begin to become a drain on resources.

“What I can tell you is that firefighting appliances need to be replaced after a certain time. They usually have to leave from a standstill and get up to speed very quickly while carrying equipment and a load of water and that can put a lot of pressure on the engine,” he said.

New fire tenders needed

He added that for the optimum performance when it comes to safety it is often recommended that they be replaced every 15 years. “So right now, our appliances, most of them, have already passed their useful life but as things have been tight with the Government we have not been afforded the funds to replace these vehicles,” he said.

“There are about five or six of them that need to be replaced and we have not been afforded the funds for that,” he said. “In the meantime they continue to break down and we continue to try to repair them. It’s not like the regular maintenance where you check something this month and the other month. When something gets old everything starts to deteriorate very quickly and unfortunately all at the same time,” he said.

The Fire Chief added that given those challenges, in the interim they are trying their best to get the trucks from West End and Virgin Gorda fixed, in addition to one from Road Town.

“If all of them are fixed you would have one at each station and two in Road Town. It is necessary to have two in Road Town because it is the centre of Government and business. So if you have one truck out on a call you would need to have another to respond to another call. And because so many of them are down we have to ensure that we keep the minimum complement of two in Road Town.”

This he said necessitated removing the trucks from East End and West End stations and bringing them to Road Town to have them there since it would be more efficient to respond from the middle of the island going outwards than to respond from one and have to go to another end.

Funds identified

McLean said some funds have been identified for the acquisition of a new fire tender. “We are working right now with the [manufacturer] trying to get that one appliance before the end of the year. He said that unlike walking into an auto dealership and driving off with new vehicle, the manufacturer would need some time to build the fire tender according to the needed specifications.

“Hopefully with this new [vehicle] we might be able to open one of the stations and hopefully when we get the other truck fixed bit by bit then we might be able to open the other one. The problem is that we have been trying our best with the budget we have to repair them,” the Fire Chief said.

Residents have been expressing concerns about the lack of fire tenders and the closure of the firestations in East End and West End.