CIG spends nearly $3M on new fire trucks

| 16/12/2020 | 21 Comments
  • Cayman News Service
  • Cayman News Service
  • Cayman News Service

(CNS): The Cayman Islands Fire Service (CIFS) has received seven new fire fighting trucks, which cost US$3 million, to replace its existing domestic fleet. The new trucks have arrived just a few months after the Ministry of Home Affairs spent almost $3.5 million on new trucks for CIFS aerodrome service. The new trucks were picked up Monday and transported in convoy from the port to the Central Fire Station.

“Government has always recognised the value of ensuring that our Fire Service has state-of-the-art equipment that it can use to make the necessary interventions that help to save lives,” said Minister Tara Rivers, who was on hand with other government officials to received the three tankers and four rapid intervention vehicles. “Throughout the course of our term a number of significant capital investments have reflected the belief that the safety of our fire officers is essential to the well-being of the Cayman Islands.”

The trucks replace the existing tankers, which have been in service for between 13 and 15 years, and are fitted with more modern features.

Chief Fire Officer Paul Walker said they have high pressure hose reels, improved pumping capabilities and revised locker layout for a quick and safe deployment of hose and equipment. The rapid intervention vehicles will prove quicker and more versatile on local roads, which are often busy and sometimes narrow, the CFO added. As a result, vehicles and crews will be able to arrive at incidents more quickly with sufficient fire and rescue equipment to deploy safely.

Other rapid intervention vehicle features include rapid cooling of fires with high pressure hose reels producing very fine droplets of water, as well as quick deployment of hydraulic rescue equipment for rescues at motor vehicle accidents.

Walker said the service was grateful for the significant investment government has made in these new fire and rescue vehicles. “This will help us to improve our service and maintain the safety of residents, businesses and visitors to these beautiful islands,” he added.

One of the rapid intervention vehicles will be sent to Cayman Brac and another tanker will also be ordered for that island next year.

The service is planning to sell the old vehicles at auction for parts, and reallocating others for special jobs, such as landfill fires, and resale to international bidders.

In total government has spent more than US$6.46 million on upgrading the domestic and aerodrome fleets in the last four months.

Meanwhile, members of Cayman’s new reserve army have been training with the fire service. Over fifty members of the Cayman Islands Regiment have been taught how to use fire extinguishers and breathing apparatus, some search and rescue capabilities, hose running and motor vehicle accident extrication, so that they can help support fire crews in the event of a major incident.

“When working together as part of a major incident response it is essential to have a shared understanding of each other’s capabilities and competencies as well as operating practices. This ensures an effective and efficient coordinated response with safe systems of work to prevent duplication of tasks and to support shared situational awareness,” said CFO Walker.

Lt Col Simon Watson, Commanding Officer of the CIR, said it was useful for the regiment to understand the skills, systems and equipment used by the Fire Service. “We look forward to working in support of CIFS in a number of areas, in particular Search and Rescue,” he said as he thanked the service.


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Comments (21)

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  1. Look into my eyes says:

    New fire trucks to fight what? Fire at Mount trashmore!?
    A fat pockets for government!!

  2. Anonymous says:

    3 million in a pop for these trucks.I’m not saying the island doesn’t need them….they do. But when a new ambulance cost is 160,000$ or so ( if you don’t need all the magic b.s.that’s put into them), then government shouldn’t balk when there is a constant urgent need to replace these vehicles.
    How many ambulances are stationed in service on these islands at a give time????? The answer is 3. That’s it…3. How many thousand people here =not enough vehicles. As I am sure many people know already. Most days of the week , almost all day these 3 trucks are responsible to
    1- respond to emergencies
    2- transport people ( both ways) to dialysis= several hours not available for an emergency…..
    3- taking YOUR family members back and forth from a doctor appointment at hospital, again which = several hours combined not available for an emergency.
    4- in a normal year…..multiple transports from the cruise ships to Health city which = multiple trips back and forth between east end and town, again which = hours not available for an emergency.
    I’m not saying these transports are not needed. Quite the opposite , they are. But….it still doesn’t beg to question the fact that as the population and need has grown that government has not seen fit to increase the amount of……needed purchase of…. new ambulances.
    These trucks run hundreds of thousands of miles over a short life span. As they age they spend more time being repaired than operating on the street. This forces the personnel to operate in units which are even older, in shape not fit for anyone. These trucks should be bought on a constant rotation. HSA should have one if not two less expensive units that they use to do the daily dialysis and doctor visit transports. Not the units that cost upwards of 200000$ dollars, with the staff members trained to the highest ability of life saving, highest paid, to do mundane work.
    But I digress……..
    if government can see fit to buy fire apparatus at over the tune of 3 million dollar, which respond to few fires, who aren’t medically trained whatsoever, than they can certainly invest in their EMS system which runs virtually non stop day and night…..
    posting because I care about my Island. Peace to all.

  3. Anonymous says:

    Just TAX the fires

  4. Anonymous says:

    Who was the supplier? Inquiring minds would like to know. Most places put this in the press release.

  5. Fu fu says:

    Hear ya nuh. We getting ready for the 10 storey buildings.

  6. Anonymous says:

    The trucks we have now are about 15 years old… we got them after Ivan. My hope is that when the new trucks are 15 years old they will have low mileage because we can significantly reduce the number of calls for them to attend road accidents.

  7. Anonymous says:

    They paint them black? They spend most of the day in the tropical sun, and paint them black? Who comes up with this stuff?

  8. Anonymous says:

    Are these left or right hand drive? If the former, send them back as they are a hazard driving in a country where we drive on the left.

  9. Anonymous says:

    Does this mean ‘Big Red’ in Little Cayman that is a 30 year old truck, get’s upgraded to one of our current 20 year old trucks that will be replaced by this new fleet?

    • Anonymous says:

      Big Red looks pretty good. Not sure it needs replacing. Age alone does not indicate unable to do the job well.

  10. GR says:

    Why a red and black colour scheme and not a more visible colour such as yellow?

  11. Anonymous says:

    another day…another day of spending madness from the ppm and as the economy is racing towards the edge of a cliff.

  12. Expat Fire Trucks in Need of Rollover says:

    As with all Cayman’s airport fire trucks they eventually expire and need upgrading or replacement. That is if they are found not to be fit for purpose or have reached their duty cycle limit, in which case they are rolled over, literally!

  13. Anonymous says:

    Is this the governments idea of leading by example? Spend, spend, spend till the public coffers are dry….oh and continue giving concessions to cut revenues too. What in the name of baby J!

  14. Anonymous says:

    I think we can all agree that the sight of a burning dump wasn’t pleasant.

    Wasn’t the fire fighter’s fault either..

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