24 years ago land was set aside in Dangriga for constructing a commercial center for residents in the town.

Though that project never materialized, the land has now been used for the construction of a state of the art fire station in Dangriga. Today that station was officially inaugurated, and Jomarie Lanza was there to tour the new facility:

Over the years we've covered a number of fires in Dangriga Town where the loss of property and possessions has been enormous. And - while fire can't be prevented completely - hopefully with a new fire station, there will be a more rapid and effective response.

The Minister of Disaster Risk Management reflected on the progress they have made in expanding the country's emergency services unit, primarily its Fire services sector.

Orlando Habet, Minister of Disaster Risk Management
"We were here in 2022 when the ground breaking ceremony took place for this fire station at that time we had just secured documents from the lands department through the efforts from the town council to build this fire station which we know monies and the funding came through the US embassy, the government of the United States rather through the program that we have with the southern command so it is important for me to be here to be a part of this celebration in the inauguration of this very important fire station for the people and residents of Dangriga and also for surrounding communities."

"We will hear from the public that they arrive late, sometimes that there is no water things that we have to work around for some reason or the other we have now known that most of the municipalities there are no fire hydrants to provide water so we have to work around that. These trucks are big. They have some humongous pumps that the old fire hydrants would collapse if they connect their pumps so we have to do something different we are working around that.

"This three quarter million dollar building would not have been possible without the assistance of the US Embassy's humanitarian assistance program. Ambassador to Belize Michelle Kwan says that they hope to continue to build up these much needed services across the country."

Michelle Kwan, US Ambassador to Belize
"So it's a donation from the US southern command, humanitarian assistance program and it costs upwards to 733,000, American dollars. I am delighted because when a request like this comes to fruition it makes me happy because this fire station and the fire fighters involved will really serve 12,000 people in Dangriga and the neighboring communities so it is life changing."

"I was delighted to hear that there was an approval for another fire station San Ignacio and I was very fortunate to be apart of the ribbon cutting in Belmopan for the fire station but then we took to the unveiling of the one here in Dangriga and then perhaps I'll be here for the unveiling of the San Ignacio one or the groundbreaking at least."

"And while the town now has a modern fire station, the Fire Chief says that they won't decommission the old station just yet, but instead they will re-deploy their firefighters to improve their response mechanism."

Collin Gillett, Fire Chief, National Fire Service
"This is a culmination of some years. I think when I started the place was still bush through Covid and all that it had some delays but at almost 2 million dollars it's awesome."

"So the old station is closer to the market which means that we will take a longer time to reach over here so we are not abandoning that station we are just going to strategically put one truck here and one truck there and have the officers just in case something happens there they can coordinate."

"So right now we are having an intake of about 70 guys, new persons, they will be spread out across the country especially in the areas where we are having the ambulance service because that is additional work and the guys in PG are having their own training from another group. There's a lot of people since we started the ambulance service. There's a lot of new organizations who want to step in and help so we are spread very thin right now but it's all for the betterment. Coming up on the next Monday right here we have another fire truck that's coming in that's going through a partnership with SCS the southern emergency services by Hopkins we have already dedicated a firefighter who will be stationed there and he will be basically starting out own fire service in Hopkins."