Firefighters wore their new suits for the first shift on Saturday.
CAY HILL--Firefighters are now suiting up in new, better quality fire protective gear.
The delivery of the new fire protective suits took place on Thursday, December 8 with the first set of firefighters wearing the suits at work on Saturday.
These are the first set of gear received, thus far. Additionally, equipment is expected to arrive later this month. The suits were purchased through the National Recovery Programme Bureau NRPB.
The Daily Herald have been told by a shift leader that the firefighters are happy with the new suits as the previous set were in deplorable conditions. The request for new suits were one of the issues the firefighters have been voicing their frustrations about for some time.
During protests in November firefighters explained to the media that they have had to resort to utilising suits that did not properly protect them in the event of fighting fires.
One lingering concern that has not be resolved is the lack of proper facilities to clean their suits, the newspaper was told. Along with the request for new protective gear, firefighters also expressed that they lacked the correct facilities needed to thoroughly and efficiently clean and sanitize their gear/suits.
The current manner in which firefighters have had to resort to cleaning their gear is not very efficient. These methods, usually left up to the firefighters to figure out on their own, may not always properly clean and/or sanitize their suits. With the arrival and now use of the new suits, this concern arises once again.
One firefighter expressed their hopes that this will be taken into account and the proper facilities can be put in place very soon.
Currently, the firefighters have been temporarily relocated to the Belair Beach Hotel while construction works are taking place at the fire department in Cay Hill.
