BASSETERRE, St. Kitts, November 14, 2023 (SKNIS) –In his most recent press conference on November 7, 2023, Prime Minister and Minister of National Security Hon. Dr. Terrance Drew said that the Department of St. Kitts and Nevis Fire and Rescue Services (SKNFRS) is undergoing restructuring in a number of key areas including human resource development and an audit to determine the necessary equipment the department needs.
“With respect to the situation with the fire tenders, as you know, we are going through the process of restructuring the fire department,” he said. “The federal government is responsible for this, so what we have done thus far, we have appointed a number of firefighters—I think it is around 15 of them so that they can bring order and structuring, which is a very, very vital aspect of the ministry…so that is one of the things we have done as far as the human resource development is concerned.”
The Prime Minister also said that untrained officers at the department are to undergo training.
“When we got there, we realized that the Fire Department to some extent was in disarray because you had people there who were being called firefighters and who had not done any training,” Dr. Drew said. “We met trained firefighters there who couldn’t get appointed because of politics and then we met people who were being promoted above those who were more qualified than them as firefighters.”
He also said that an inventory is being done at the SKNFRS to assess what equipment is needed.
“The other thing we are doing is an inventory of what we will need, for example, one of the major things coming as a capital project is to deal with the equipment we have at fire, so that is before us,” Prime Minister Dr. Drew said.
Prime Minister Hon. Dr. Terrance Drew