To the rescue: Old Harbour gets new fire station

Construction has now been completed on the Old Harbour Fire Station, one of four such facilities the Government committed to undertake as part of a multimillion-dollar investment in the infrastructure of the Jamaica Fire Brigade (JFB).

The Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development last year said it was making a J$924.7-million investment in the infrastructure of the JFB with the construction of the new facilities.

The other fire stations, which were slated to be handed over by the end of the 2022/2023 financial year, are being constructed in Montego Bay, St James; Port Maria, St Mary; and Yallahs, St Thomas under a World Bank project. The ministry said the Old Harbour station was being built at a cost of $59.7 million.

During the 2021-2022 Sectoral Debate, Minister of Local Government and Rural Development Desmond McKenzie announced that the acquisition of new equipment for the JFB will enter a new technological dimension.

“The Fire Brigade will launch the Unmanned Arial Vehicle Programme, and this programme will purchase two drones,” he said then. “The drones will assist with surveillance for search-and-rescue exercises as well as fires and other emergency situations. This programme, which is the first of its kind for the JFB, will help our firefighters to far better manage emergency situations,” a welcome sign for residents of the fishing village at Old Harbour Bay, where fisherfolk occasionally go missing while plying their trade.

TO BE EQUIPPED

While construction of the Old Harbour Fire Station appears to be completed, it is yet to be equipped with trucks and other equipment, and staffed with firefighters.

Although the Government has not said so, construction of the new fire station comes amid a growing population in and around the old fishing village, which has seen the build out of at least seven housing developments and with additional construction currently under way.

It also comes in the wake of the construction of additional commercial spaces and bend-down marketplaces to meet the needs of the increasing population, and the space requirements of medical and other professionals who are either relocating to the town or expanding their businesses.