Update | JFB hampered by water woes
Published:Thursday | April 14, 2022 | 12:06 AMAsha Wilks/Gleaner Writer
Among the many challenges the Jamaica Fire Brigade (JFB) encounters, access to water remains a major concern for its members' ability to carry out duties within the many districts across the island.
Commissioner Stewart Beckford has expressed unease about the severity of the impending drought and the impact it will have on the fire department's operations as the summer period approaches.
During a Gleaner interview last Thursday, Beckford explained that water shortages are prevalent in the downtown Kingston area as well as many rural towns. He identified Mandeville and Brown's Town in St Ann as two of the top rural areas where the JFB has had challenges to operate in the past.
Despite the fact that the fire department has been in communication with the National Water Commission (NWC), Beckford admitted that the situation is “beyond their control most of the time,” since the NWC's storage capacity is also impacted by the rise in temperatures.
To counter this, the JFB is scheduled to procure more tankers for its fleet to boost water storage capacities and increase the functionality of its fire hydrant network, which consists of 16,700 units, through a fire hydrant mapping operation.
This exercise, which began in December 2021, is expected to be completed within the next six months, where all hydrants, whether out of service, operable, or in need of maintenance, will be identified. This information aids fire units in outing fires and effectively feed water to its fire units, which can carry up to 4,000 litres of water and emptied in a firefighting operation in seven minutes.
“We are cognisant of the fact that it is something that is important to the public, so we are taking steps to ensure that we address any shortcomings that now exist,” he said.
Currently, approximately 67 per cent of the fire hydrants across the country are functional.
NEED FOR MORE HYDRANTS
As the number of infrastructure developments continue to increase, so does the need for more fire hydrants, but Beckford highlighted that currently, there are more than sufficient fire hydrants to service Hagley Park and Constant Spring roads, two major government-funded projects.
With a yearly allocation of approximately $14.5 million to hire contractors to conduct repairs and new installations, the JFB will carry out renovation works to its hydrant network.
“I want to take this opportunity to encourage Jamaicans to – if there is a hydrant on your street, if it is not working, or you have any doubt about whether or not it's working – give us a call,” Beckford appealed.
The fire hydrant maintenance division, which comprises of two teams that service all 14 parishes and are stationed in western (Area 4) and eastern (Area 1) Jamaica, will have an increased staff complement so as to improve installation and maintenance operations.
An additional team of nine will be deployed in both Area Two (Portland, St Mary, St Ann, and Trelawny) and Three (St Catherine, Clarendon, and Manchester) in the near future.
In 2021, the JFB recorded a total of 1,397 structural fires as opposed to the 1,456 it received the previous year. Residential fires saw an 6.4 per cent decrease, with a total of 1,045 calls last year, and a 12 per cent increase in commercial fires (309 calls), compared to the previous year. Other incidents stemmed from 43 reports involving hotels, offices, amusement parks, and animal shelters.
According to Beckford, areas within Kingston and St Andrew are more prone to fire devastation, as the region recorded the most structural damage, 302, with much of it occurring within inner-city communities, whereas St Catherine fared better with 219 fires reported.
Despite the fact that Beckford believes Kingston and St Andrew is one of the divisions with the strongest hydrant network due to its proximity to Trench Town, York Park, and Rollington Town Fire Stations, the area continues to suffer, particularly within the market district.
Rae Rae Market and the Oxford Mall Arcade were damaged by fires in February while sections of the Coronation Market were burned in March this year.
“In the market district ... those are of concern to us,” said Beckford, who revealed that from investigations carried out in one of the market fire incidents in February, the cause was said to be arson.
Suspected arson cases reported in 2021 saw an 11 per cent increase to 121 cases,up from the 109 in 2020.
FACTORING CAUSES
A contribution to the high levels of structural damage by fire is due to the type of housing in the downtown Kingston area, which is seen as “less than ideal”. Their close proximity to each other greatly enables the rapid spread of fires.
Frequent causes are due to the materials the homes are composed of, such as wood and zinc, as well as being illegally connected to the public electricity grid.
In 2021, the JFB received 339 electrical short circuit fire calls.
“For us as firefighters, the risk it poses is even more than just it starting a fire,” said Beckford, recalling up to four instances last year where members of the Fire Brigade have came in contact with live wires and have had to be hospitalised.
In a similar situation, a Jamaica Public Service employee was hospitalised and later died from injuries he received as a result of a high-voltage electrocution in February. The serviceman was disengaging from an illegal connection.
The JFB is prepared to tackle the concern with high-rise buildings and new housing developments. Beckford has also assured that the matter of fire safety is at the forefront of every decision made by the JFB before any approvals are issued to developers.
The JFB has given its clearance for the construction of The Ascent, which will be Jamaica's newest and tallest structure, a proposed mixed-use 26-storey building on Oxford Road in New Kingston.
Currently, The Jamaica Pegasus hotel holds that title, being 17 storeys high.
Every building erected, he explained, has to consult with the Fire Brigade for approval before construction can begin. As such, “we would ensure that from a fire-safety perspective [all the] relevant and needed equipment are a part of the design of these facilities,” he said.
Some factors include the location of fire hydrants on property, the accessibility of fire hose reels on each floor level, the width of staircases, and the ability to prevent trapped smoke in stairwells that persons would have to utilise to escape fire hazards.
In addition to this, rising mains (a system of pipelines spread across the height of the building, allowing water to be easily delivered to all floors by fire fighters) are necessary as the fleet of fire trucks' maximum reach is 104 feet (10 floors).
“When we do approve, we are not just approving and leave the contractors and the developers on their own. We do regular follow-up inspections to ensure that the fire safety concept that we would have approved are being implemented,” he added.
Concerns regarding Portmore's own emergency services, such as a fire station, have also been expressed as a result of the forthcoming motion for its parish status.
According to Beckford, a fire station is expected to be built in Bernard Lodge, a township under development being spearheaded by Sugar Company of Jamaica Holdings, as talks with its developers over a plot of land for it to be stationed have already begun.
“We would have looked at it and would have given our blessings, our approval, to ideally situate it for a fire station,” he said.
The Hellshire region is also being considered as a potential site for the construction of a new fire station, as the Waterford Fire Station is the only station to serve the entire municipality.
“Portmore will be getting some attention in the next few years as it relates to us increasing our footprint in that space,” he said.
EDITOR'S NOTE: An earlier version of this story said that there were no fire hydrants on Constant Spring and Hagley Park roads. The commissioner has since clarified that there are adequate hydrants along those routes.