Tag: Paul Walker
Bernie’s alleged bias against fire chief backfires
(CNS): Minister Bernie Bush has been suspended from office and lost responsibility for home affairs after infringing the Constitution and breaching the Ministerial Code of Conduct over the management of the fire service. In a press statement released early Monday, Premier Wayne Panton said that Health Minister Sabrina Turner was taking over the home affairs […]
Minister cut funds for fire chief’s training bonus
(CNS): Home Affairs Minister Bernie Bush has told CNS that when he took up office, he was surprised to learn that the current chief fire officer had been paid extra cash each month to train Caymanians. Bush said he had done what he could within the law to ensure the funding was cut off.
Fire chief cashed in on training deputies
(CNS): A redacted memorandum from Dax Basdeo, who was then the chief officer in the Ministry of Home Affairs, sent in May 2020 to Chief Fire Officer Paul Walker showed that he has been receiving additional money to train the deputy CFOs to take over his post when he leaves in September.
Caymanian officially in waiting for fire chief job
(CNS): After a long wait, a Caymanian has finally been selected as chief fire officer designate and will take over when the current CFO’s contract ends in September and he returns to the UK. Following what senior civil servants said was a rigorous and highly competitive recruitment process, Dwight Randy Rankin, currently a divisional manager, has […]
Fire crews work on deep-seated fires amid scrap metal
(CNS): Fire-fighters were still on site at the dump Friday morning after a night-long battle to control and contain the blaze in the scrap metal section that ignited yesterday morning. Teams were still excavating and extinguishing deep-seated fires, but officials said the situation was much-improved. Cayman Islands Fire Service crews worked tirelessly alongside the Department […]
Crews facing hazardous blaze at dump, says chief
(CNS): A combination of windy conditions and the nature of the mixed-waste materials at the scrap metal area of the landfill contributed to the hazardous blaze that fire crews faced when they arrived on scene this morning, Chief Fire Officer Paul Walker said at a last minute lunchtime briefing at GIS. The CFO said it […]
Minister rushes to meet fire service commitments
(CNS): With just three weeks left in office, Home Affairs Minister Tara Rivers, who is not running in the elections next month to retain her seat in West Bay South, is rushing to ensure that the Cayman Islands fire service, especially on the Sister Islands, gets the equipment and station upgrades promised at the beginning […]
UK fire chief to stay despite succession promise
(CNS): More than five years after Premier Alden McLaughlin refused to endorse the recruitment of a foreign chief fire office at a Legislative Assembly Finance Committee hearing, the contract for the latest CFO recruited from the UK has been extended for another two years in the face of unfulfilled succession plan promises. The one-year contract […]
Latest dump fire finally out
(CNS): A persistent and challenging deep-seated fire at the George Town Landfill site has been extinguished, officials from the Cayman Islands Fire Service (CIFS) and Department of Environmental Health (DEH), said Wednesday, almost a week after the area ignited. For the last five days fire fighters and DEH staff have been working on the area, […]
Fire crews still at smoldering dump
(CNS): The Cayman Islands Fire Service and Department of Environmental Health are still working to battle a small but stubborn, deep-seated fire at the George Town dump. On Tuesday officials said the crews were excavating, turning and dampening the vein of burning mixed waste which has been smoldering since Thursday, 21 May.
GT dump continues to burn
(CNS): A deep-seated vein of burning waste at the George Town landfill is continuing to cause trouble for firefighters. Cayman Islands Fire Service crews who returned to the dump Saturday morning to put out what was described by officials as a small but challenging fire and were still there Sunday. Working alongside Department of Environmental […]
