On Wednesday January 18th, the Dominica Fire and Ambulance Services held a press conference to report on their operations for 2016.
Deputy Chief Fire Officer, Farley Riviere, gave a summary of calls received by the department during the year 2016.
He reported that headquarters recorded 3,615 calls for the year, the Portsmouth Fire Station responded to 1,233 ambulance calls, the Melville Hall Fire Station responded to 1,011 ambulance calls, La Plaine recorded 502 calls, Grand Bay recorded 1218, St. Joseph, 564 ambulances calls while Castle Bruce recorded 530 for the year; a total for department of 8,673 calls for 2016 - 1, 631 more calls than the previous year.
He informed further that “the Fire and Ambulance Services provided 96 special services to the country.” The department delivered 131 lectures for the year and responded to a total of 42 accident calls for the year as well.”
The department also conducted 147 training sessions and 30 hydrant inspections for the year.
Riviere said other activities included inspections and training for the general public. He said 110 of these training sessions were conducted.
Chief Fire Officer, Josiah Dupuis, emphasized the importance of these training sessions for the general public.
“We did touch 3405 individuals… I think this is very significant…,” he said.
The Chief also applauded officers for tremendous work done during the year 2016 and informed the public of the department’s commitment to serve diligently in 2017. “We commit to improving areas we did not do as well…,” Dupuis said.
Following the press conference, Jerry Augustine, Thora Robinson, Ken Bully, Vernand Joseph and Alvin Jarvis were recognized for their exemplary work.