Fire officers worried about slashed budget for equipment

With fire stations lacking firetrucks and only four having a functional jaws-of-life tool, the Fire Officers Association is worried about the decision to slash the Fire Service’s (TTFS) budget for buying vehicles and equipment by more than half.

Speaking with Newsday on October 8, head of the association Keone Guy said he was “tremendously concerned” over the reduction in this allocation in the 2025 budget compared to last year.

Last year the TTFS was allocated $11.2 million for new vehicles and equipment, and although the estimated spend was only $714,000, the figure has been reduced to just $4 million in this year’s budget.

This was part of the almost $7 million decrease in the draft estimates for development programmes allocated to the TTFS in fiscal 2025.

Guy suggested the association feels ignored and says he wants answers.

“Over the past seven or eight years we have highlighted the shortcomings within the organisation and the challenges that we have with (using) vehicles that are able to properly deal with the challenges of emergency response. So to see that there has been a decrease in the allocation of purchasing vehicles, we want to know the reasons for this, given what we have highlighted publicly in the media.”

He said there are numerous fire stations without firetrucks, listing Point Fortin, Mayaro, Morvant, Belmont, Woodbrook and Chaguaramas and saying there were others.

"And that's just in Trinidad. In Tobago we have a very similar problem.”

Guy said since a new firetruck costs almost $4 million, there is no way the allocation will be sufficient to address the need.

He said the government has not bought new firetrucks in more than ten years and added the issues facing the TTFS were not being taken seriously.

“That is absolutely inadequate. Especially when the Minister of Finance has announced that the government is looking to purchase 2,000 vehicles over the next three years for the police, with 500 being delivered in this fiscal.

"For only a fraction of that investment we could outfit the entire TTFS.

“To allocate $4 million to us just demonstrates that the government clearly is not taking this aspect of public safety very seriously. The TTFS remains in the present condition as it was, and that is quite unfortunate.”

But Guy’s concerns are seemingly being addressed, as National Security Minister Fitzgerald Hinds has said a number of firetrucks have been ordered.

Speaking in the budget debate on October 8, Hinds said the new firetrucks are expected to be delivered next year.

“On order for delivery in 2025 are chemical industrial tenders for the Point Fortin station for $39.5 million; emergency tenders and a water tender for the Penal fire station totalling $109 million; for the Mayaro station, a water tender, a breathing apparatus and a hose layer costing 48.9 million; and for the Woodbrook fire station we ordered a water tender for $4.9 million.”

Contrary to Guy’s comment, Hinds said there are only four fire stations without vehicles, and he expects that number to be slashed in half by the end of this week.

“I spoke with the chief fire officer this morning (Tuesday). Two of (the vehicles) are with the engineers at the moment, so he expects that by later this week those two will be on schedule, so we will be in a much better position.”

He added self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) has also been ordered.

“The contract was signed and we are expecting delivery by March 2025.

"In the intervening period, we received, thanks to a company who operates in that kind of industry, a donation of 77 breathing apparatus sets, and as I speak they are being deployed.”

But Guy raised concern over the type of SCBAs the government had ordered.

He says thoserecommended by the TTFS’s specialist departments were based on US and Canadian standards, while those ordered by the government are based on European standards.

He said officers also have to deal with other equipment shortages .

“We have fire stations without portable pumps. More than 80 per cent of fire stations are without portable generators. There is also a shortage of functional hoses, as well as a host of equipment that we require, like rescue equipment, lines, harnesses, rescue vests for supply officers.”