7 News Belize

Firefighters Being Brought To New Standard
posted (January 12, 2012)
If you've ever been at the scene of a fire, then you'll know that no one gets more cruelly criticized than firefighters. A large part of that comes from the fact that fires invariably provoke chaos, and the firemen and women have to control that chaos - which can sometimes look like a mess.

And so, whether fairly or not, they get dragged through the mud worse than a fire hose across a mangrove swamp. But now, the Department is trying to change its image - turning firefighting from a past-time to a profession.

We saw as much at a pass out for 19 recruits today:..

Hon. Melvin Hulse - Minister Responsible for Fire Dept.
"We have tried to make sure the fire department in Belize become the respected organization that internationals they get, but respect can only be gotten by the people first who work at the Fire Department and understand that you must first have self- respect and respect the profession you are in. The days when you only wanted to be a fireman because it was a part time job because getting a fulltime job was hard to get must be over with."

Jules Vasquez reporting
And with that in mind - the first passing our exercise in maybe over a decade was held to show the fire department as a disciplined force.

Just like the BDF or police they did demonstrations of fitness, and competence in this fire simulation to show off the skills they've mastered in 13 weeks of training:

Francis Thomas, Fire Chief
"At the end of the day when you look at our mission it's to save lives and property, and that is extremely important. And to do that there is a science and there is an art to it, and that science and art is to practice here so it can be done effectively and efficiently."

And just so, the symbolism of a passing out as a disciplined force is important in what it communicates:

Francis Thomas, Fire Chief
"And it starts first in house by us ensuring that we are able to do our job efficiently. In that way the people will definitely appreciate and expect as serious as efficient fire fighters as possible."

That message was clear to Champion recruit is Deitrick Kingston who is grateful for the discipline

Deitrick Kingston, Champion recruit
"It's hard to express the kind of happiness that I have right now that I passed out and actually get to be on an intake. I've been waiting for this a very long time. They kept saying that they will have recruit training. Some of us got discouraged and just carried on to something else, but for the rest of us that stuck it out here as a volunteer, we've been here very long waiting on this."

The public has been waiting too:

Hon. Melvin Hulse
"We are trying to increase and re-structure the organization because a lot of times people were just occupying in there, and nobody was being encouraged to move up; nobody was being encouraged to study more and to get more training. You must understand that you are important. The days of working with a standard six school certificate and you come here to kill time for 20 years for a salary is done and over."

The passing out is part of an effort to bring the fire department to its full complement of staff; it has long operated at around 50% of staff requirements.

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