Chief Fire Officer Mr Zebalon A. McLean has been very vocal on matters affecting the Virgin Islands Fire and Rescue Department. Photo: VINO

Mr Zebalon A. McLean was at the time addressing firefighters who had successfully completed an Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) training programme when he made the challenges of the department known. Photo: VINO

Firefighting, according to Mr McLean, is not a high paying job but urged his staff to still give of their best when on the job. Photo: VINO

He, however, was very candid in acknowledging some of the areas where firefighters also have to do their part to ensure the integrity of the department. Mr McLean is one that as been very vocal on the issue of working conditions.

Over the past few years his cries have mounted even as a number of the fire stations across the territory have been closing.

“We are one of the most important entities in government. I can’t think of anybody else that can put up with us save for the health services because they are in the same job that we are in –saving lives,” he told firefighters at a closing session of an Emergency Medical Technician (EMOT) training programme on March 17, 2015.

“I sympathise with the fact that we have taken on new challenges and we have achieved new skills bit by bit. Unfortunately, as men who take care of other people's families we too have families and we have not yet gotten to the point where we can successfully say that we are going to be paid our worth,” said Mr McLean.

Poorly paid

He was very clear to the core of firefighters present that the profession of firefighting is definitely not going to make the 'rich'. "This is like the teaching profession, we will always be basically overworked ‎and underpaid," said Mr Mclean.

"The monetary rewards have not been to your likings and I know that better than anybody else. Most of you here had no thought of fighting when I was a fire officer…. This is not a new fight it is an old fight.”

He further said that while he is prepared to fight the fight until what is to be achieved comes to fruition, firefighters have the task of letting their work speak for them especially since the department is considered a liability to government as it is not the type of entity that brings in revenue.

“But we have to continue to drive the point home that we are an essential department because no amount of revenue collected can buy a life and that is what we do, we save lives, so from my point of view, from my seat, I will continue to push.”

Not appreciated

It was a point of note by Mr McLean that the department gets a mountain of unappreciation from members of the public. “No one sees when we are out there two and three in the morning, no one sees the EMTs and the fire officers strutting to The Baths trying to pull out tourists...and no one sees the officers running across the hillsides trying to tackle a fire that is trying to get away from them. But they would pass for two or three seconds and see something and they would complain about it.”

He also noted the importance of fire officers being mindful of image especially in public spaces as he said many of his predecessors are guilty of not paying attention to that. “Because what people see is what they react to… we can demand respect but we are not going to get it that way, we have to earn it,” he said.

“The public is very fickle and very unappreciative, it only takes a second for them to change their mind, so our job is never done…”