When Will Fire Service Get a Permanent Headquarters?  

The National Fire Service has a new temporary home, but the move is already raising questions about the cost to taxpayers. After years of operating from the Marion Jones Sports Complex, part of the department has now relocated to a privately rented facility. Minister of Disaster Risk Management Henry Charles Usher says the arrangement is temporary, because the Marion Jones compound was never designed to function as a fire service headquarters. Usher says government is now looking for funding to build a permanent National Fire Service headquarters near the Eleanor Hall Building. But until that happens, the department will continue operating from rented space.

 

Henry Charles Usher, Minister of Disaster Risk Management

“When the National Fire Service headquarters was sold by the UDP administration, there was no plan for it. There was nowhere for the National Fire Service to go. They had been begging, lodging at the Marion Jones Stadium, a place that was not suitable for the National Fire Service. We are preparing and we are in plans now to get the new National Fire Service headquarters built very close to the Eleanor Hall building. There’s a land designated there, so we’re happy that we’re proceeding with that. We’re looking for funding for that particular project as we speak. Currently, a space is being rented for a part of the National Fire Service, not the full headquarters. The administrative headquarters is there, as well as the north side fire station is there. The mechanical yard has been moved to Ladyville and other areas have been moved to other areas because we just don’t have the space available in the other locations. But when we do build the new headquarters, we’ll be able to have the administrative headquarters, the mechanical yard, the training yard, et cetera, for the National Fire Service. So it will be good.”

 

The previous National Fire Service Headquarters was sold under the UDP administration and the city’s northern fleet was moved to the Marion Jones Stadium. The new headquarters for the administration department is on Calle al Mar.   

 

Attention readers: This online newscast is a direct transcript of our evening television broadcast. When speakers use Kriol, we have carefully rendered their words using a standard spelling system.

 

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