By YOLANDE GYLES, Staff ReporterTIRED OF HEARING about the sorry state of the island's fire service, a group of concerned citizens has begun to make a change.
They call themselves the Friends of the Spanish Town Fire Station. They were formed just under a month ago after its convenor, Rosemarie Green, saw first hand the state of the Spanish Town Fire Station. "Several weeks ago, I heard there was a raging fire at the Spanish Town courthouse and I headed there to see what was going on, and my heart bled immediately for the fire service," Green recalled. "They were battling this raging blaze ill equipped."
Green said that after speaking with several firemen she realised something had to be done. "It made no sense for us to continue just talking about it," she said. "It was time that we did something." And, with that the fund and organisation were born.
Green started the fund with money she already had at the Victoria Mutual Building Society and called on friends and other business owners in the community for help.
They were only too eager to help. The owners of Young's Supermarket in Spanish Town contributed cash, while Ernest Hoo, a businessman from Greendale, provided tyres for the firetrucks.
Good gesture
They have already managed to repair three of the department's firetrucks at a cost of about $300,000. One of those units fought Tuesday night's blaze in Old Harbour. That fire, which started at the Foam and Accessories warehouse, claimed the life of two-year-old Samuel Forbes and left 25 other persons homeless.
The help has been more than welcome. "It's a very good gesture," said Acting Assistant Superintendent D. Sutherland of the Spanish Town Fire Station. "It is heartening to all of us as firemen to see the support we are getting from these people, and this sets a precedent for others to do likewise."
A member of the group, Iris Lewis, Principal of the Crescent All-Age School, said she joined the organisation, in part because of the devastating effect that fire has on children and their families. "Children and their families who go through fires seem lost, they have lost all their earthly belongings and it pains my heart to see them go through that," she explained.
Perline Barrett, another member of the group and the Investigation Manager for Food For The Poor, knows all too well about the effects of fires on families. "We get hundreds if not thousands of requests from persons for help and the thing that always gets to me, and you see it on the news, is when they say 'If the fire truck had come a little earlier'."
The group would love to see others across the island follow their lead. "If you can give money or assistance to firemen in your community go ahead, this is the way to make a change," said Ena Knibbs, a member who lives in Sligoville.
Rudy Gayle of the Returning Residents Association in St. Catherine summed it up best. "We are all Jamaicans here and abroad and we have to protect each other," he said.
