Minister for Home Affairs the Honourable Dr. Virginia Albert- Poyotte is pleased that her very first commitment to the Saint Lucia Fire Service has become a reality. When the Fire Service officials highlighted an acute shortage of staff to the Minister during her first courtesy call in October, she promised that she would promptly address this issue along with Prime Minister Honourable Philip J. Pierre, as a matter of urgency.
Last week the Fire Service announced that 49 young people are down for rigorous training in order to become fire officers. “I am very pleased that finally we have been able to secure the staffing component for the Saint Lucia Fire Service, and as a new government, we have expressed our appreciation for the work that the Fire service has done especially in combatting Covid -19. So Government gave a commitment that we would try our best to ensure that they are fully staffed. We know that there are quite a few retired officers who have moved on or transferred or resigned from the service and therefore it was not possible for the Fire Service to continue to work with inadequate staffing.”
Dr. Albert- Poyotte says the government of St. Lucia also saw it fitting to ensure that the Fire Service was fully staffed in light of the tremendous work they did in combating COVID-19, especially during the fourth wave. “As someone who is very conscious of the value of human resource in any organization, I ensured that we honoured the commitment that the government made and gave the Fire Service their complement of 49 new recruits.”
The Home Affairs Minister also noted that there will be heightened expectations during the new year, that the Fire Service will be better placed to sustain its culture of excellent service delivery to the nation.
The Saint Lucia Fire Service formally welcomed forty-nine new recruits on Wednesday, December 8, 2021 during an orientation exercise, which was conducted at the Fire Service Training School in Vieux Fort.