New Fire Chief to work on three-point plan

A REGIONAL DISASTER mechanism, a regional training college and increased customer service are what new Chief Fire Officer Wilfred Marshall will be working towards.Marshall made these revelations on Monday during a media conference at the Barbados Fire Service headquarters in Probyn Street, The City.“Most of our training is done internationally, and I want to see a situation where we can go to a college which would focus on situations you would find in the Caribbean and not in New York,” he said.Marshall said he also wanted to see a regional disaster mechanism established for firefighting and rescue, as well as a regional response framework for natural and unnatural events that may go beyond the capacity of the affected country.“It is my intention to work with the Caribbean Association of Fire Chiefs and the Caribbean Association of Fire Fighters towards the development of fire officers in this region and the attainment of these goals,” he said. As for improved customer service, Marshall said his vision was to develop a fire service driven by efficiency, with the outcome measured not only in statistics but also in service excellence.In addition, he said he wanted to see public sector reform made a part of the future of the service.“I want the service to be technology-led and in particular to capitalise on the benefits of information technology to provide innovative solutions in areas such as training, communication, record keeping and certainly in my decision making process,” he said.Marshall identified some pending additions to the service in the form of a new water tanker, which would primarily be used to bring water to areas where they had difficulty sourcing it, and a new crash tanker, which would be stationed at the airport to combat airfield fires. Concerning the airport station, he said personnel were getting ready to move in, “hopefully” this year, as some repairs were still taking place. (CA)