Fire Service Association president Keone Guy is warning that the TT Fire Service is on the brink of "absolute and total collapse," as many stations...
Vous n'êtes pas connecté
FIREFIGHTERS attached to the Princes Town fire station have been spread among two other stations after safety concerns grow over their dilapidated quarters. Chief Fire Officer Arnold Bristo told Newsday the officers would be split between the Rio Claro and Penal fire stations, and their appliances stationed at the latter. These locations, he said, were chosen to ensure they would be able to service the Princes Town area and environs. Fire Service Association president Keone Guy described this decision as "reasonable." He told Newsday the Princes Town fire station has been neglected for too long, leading to its dilapidation and rodent infestation. Furthermore, he said the chain of command and the Ministry of National Security were aware of the situation since December 2023. "Seven months ago the Occupational Safety and Health Authority (OSHA) was invited to the station to conduct an inspection by the association and there they identified 26 deficiencies and gave the Ministry of National Security 21 days to address them." Guy said these issues were never addressed and if OSHA returned to the site, it would find even more deficiencies. "We are extremely concerned for the officers' health and safety. We are concerned for the health and safety of their families and any visitor to this station." He said this is why officers attached to the station now refused to use it. On July 11 they threatened to abandon work over the conditions. Bristo said the station was one of three in south Trinidad listed for reconstruction and has been part of the service's redevelopment programme since 2013. The others are the Rio Claro and Siparia fire stations. "With the completion of Point Fortin station, Princes Town and Rio Claro have been brought up on the priority list to be addressed, but there is a process." He said earlier this year he engaged the Ministry of Works and Transport for its input and held a meeting with the ministry last week. He said site visits were planned for next week to all three stations in the Southern Division. "Once the Ministry of Works sees the stations and they make their recommendations, then we can advance the projects. "These are big-ticket items. We have to follow the process." In a release, Princes Town MP Barry Padarath said he stood in solidarity with the officers. Padarath said the station is in dire need of upgrading and lamented that, as at many other stations, officers operate without the necessary breathing apparatus and protective gear. He called for Minister of National Security Fitzgerald Hinds to intervene immediately. The post Princes Town firefighters relocated from unsafe station appeared first on Trinidad and Tobago Newsday.
Fire Service Association president Keone Guy is warning that the TT Fire Service is on the brink of "absolute and total collapse," as many stations...
Southern Division police arrested two people and seized “items of interest” in a roadblock before dawn on August 2. A police statement said...
A 31-year-old man has been detained in connection with the beating death of a 56-year-old female relative at the family’s home in Princes Town on...
ONE bandit is hospitalised after his accomplice accidentally shot him in a robbery in Princes Town over the weekend. The 34-year-old suspect from St...
MINISTER in the Ministry of National Security Keith Scotland says a plan is in the works to repair defective police vehicles in Tobago. He spoke in...
KEITH Scotland, Minister in the Ministry of National Security, is hoping to make a dent in Tobago’s crime situation over the next 72...
Greece on Wednesday counted the cost of devastating fires outside Athens that claimed one life, forced thousands to flee their homes and took three...
RETIRED teacher James Gajadhar, 77, of Rio Claro, died on August 15, the day after he was chopped in his garden. The police said Gajadhar, of Old Rio...
The autopsy of a Sea Lots man who shot and killed by police as they investigated the wounding of an officer who was himself shot on St Paul Street,...
ST Augustine MP Khadijah Ameen has expressed her deep concern at a spate of violent crime in her constituency plus her perceived shortcomings in the...