NASSAU,BAHAMAS- FNM Deputy Leader and Shadow National Security Minister Shanendon Cartwright, in a statement, shared new details regarding the FNM’s emergency response plan under a future Pintard administration.
“Unfortunately, we have a government accustomed to living large on the people’s dime. Meanwhile, Bahamians can’t be sure they’ll get an ambulance, a fire truck, or a police officer when they need one most. We can do better than this!
“That’s why the next FNM government will make at least a $10 million capital investment into 25 new fire trucks and a firefighting plane,” said Cartwright.
“He continued: “As our Leader stated, the next FNM government will establish a stand-alone fire department, and its head will report to the Prime Minister or the Minister responsible. Led by a senior official, it will be structured similarly to the Police, Defence Force, and Corrections leadership. This approach will bring new focus to firefighting. It will also involve an increase in the number of full-time firefighters based on the major islands.”
“Additionally, we will develop a fully trained and supported national volunteer fire brigade. This will build on current volunteer efforts with structured training and compensation. This will look to use the ‘5-minute response time’ model, commonly used worldwide. An on-call fire engine will be crewed by on-call firefighters who respond from home or work to the station within 5 minutes after a message is passed to them via a modern alert system. Volunteers will be fully trained to core standards, earn an annual retainer fee, and receive payment for incident response.”
Cartwright said the FNM will ensure that fire trucks and modern equipment are stationed across all major islands and ensure we have the right number of appliances at each station. He noted that Grand Bahama has currently been left with not one of its five trucks in Freeport operational.
“Our geography poses unique challenges. The new service will therefore need to undertake a review of capacity and procure the latest firefighting appliances, including ‘off-the-shelf’ models with proven ability, learning from international best practices.”
“We will guarantee at least $10 million of new capital investment into the fire service over the life of the next Parliament (both in terms of fire trucks and a firefighting plane), paid for by scrapping the PM’s dedicated private plane and cutting back on luxury government travel. This would be capital spend, focused on new appliances and upgrading fire stations.”
“The PLP cannot be trusted to do the right thing to keep us safe. Philip Davis is not a proactive Prime Minister. The FNM is the only serious alternative to this government, and we will get the job done without excuses,” said Cartwright.
