The Barbados Fire Service (BFS) has received $3 million in new appliances, and a state-of-the art training facility is to be built at Spring Garden, St. Lucy.
This was revealed on Tuesday during the handover and commissioning of a $1.4 million crash tender which will service the Airport Fire Station.
Minister of Home Affairs and Information, Wilfred Abrahams, in addressing the ceremony, said the purchasing of the equipment was necessary, as Government’s first priority was to spend on safety and security.
He explained that while much focus was placed on the Barbados Police Service and the Barbados Defence Force, the Barbados Fire Service also needed to be properly equipped.
However, he noted that the last appliance for the airport was purchased in 2011. “We don’t want a situation where there is an incident at the airport…and we can’t respond in the way that is expected…,” he said.
The Minister also noted this was critical as efforts are underway to have Barbados registered as a category one top tier airport “and all the benefits that come with that”. “This is another part of that process,” he stated.
Mr. Abrahams said the new appliance would be used for dedicated service to the airport as what was required for use there and around aviation fuel and for specific circumstances was different from what would be required for other types of fires.
Chief Fire Officer, Errol Maynard, said given the “peculiarities” of the airport, fire officers were specially trained for airport firefighting.
He noted that the addition of the new tender would allow the number of crash tenders based at the airport to remain at four, as one of the older ones now had to be retired.
“How it works is that three of them (appliances) can work [and] the extra vehicle is to make sure we have a good maintenance programme, and if one breaks down it does not alter the status of the airport because we must always be ready to respond,” the Fire Chief said.
He also disclosed that the BFS was in the process of building out a state-of-the-art facility in St. Lucy to cater to airport and municipal firefighting training in search and rescue and other aspects.
Mr. Maynard said that facility would be located on five to seven acres of Government land at Spring Garden, St. Lucy
Meanwhile, Service Engineer at Angloco, Andy Aimley, explained that the crash tender featured high and low pressure, roof and bumper monitors, dry powder, foam, 55 meters of hose on either side.
“It is a really nice truck,” he said, noting fire officers would have to spend time learning the features of the new vehicle. The other two firefighting vehicles are still in the manufacturing phase, and will be based at the Bridgetown and St. John Fire Stations when they arrive in Barbados.