A Call To Serve

-
Bayne and Holligan share their stories on World Firefighters Day

The drive to save lives.
That was what propelled junior officer Damian Bayne and acting sub-officer Charles Holligan to a career in the Barbados Fire Service. With more than three decades in the service between them, the two recounted their experiences in the paramilitary organisation on Tuesday at the Probyn Street headquarters in the City where celebrations for World Firefighters Day were in progress.

Holligan’s career spanned 29 years, and although there were countless memories that came along the way, one stands out clearest: the 2007 Arch Cot tragedy. He was the first fire officer on the scene that Sunday morning and nearly encountered a perilous situation of his own.

“When we arrived that Sunday morning, we could hear the conversation with [Donavere Codrington] and a guy on the western side of it,” the 53-year-old officer recounted.
“We got close to them, and as we got closer to the cave, we were standing on a rock. The guy on the western end asked us to move ... and we did exactly that. About 10 seconds after, that same rock we were standing on fell in...”

Despite the experience, Holligan stayed on for the duration of the exercise, even offering counselling for some of his colleagues. His interest in the service was born out of conversations with a former fireman, now deceased, who was courting his neighbour when he was between eight and nine years old.

After his successful application at 24 years old, he was stationed at the St. John fire station, in Four Roads. He has also served at the airport, St. James and Arch Hall stations and has been at headquarters since 2006.

Much has changed since Holligan’s entry into the service, including the stipulation of academic qualifications in order to apply. He was of the opinion that this made the younger recruits harder to train. “The youngsters don’t want to perform and feel they should be a supervisor and not just a worker, but there are some you can speak to and they would make the change,” he said.

And certainly Bayne is one of the young men who exhibited the willingness to listen and learn from his superiors. The 26-year-old is approaching his fifth year in the service, and has his eyes set on moving up the ranks. “If given the opportunity, I would like to advance my career as far as fire fighting is concerned,” he said.

He is currently enrolled in an online fire-fighting course, with hopes that he would make his way up the ranks while making a positive contribution to his community. Like Holligan, his helpful nature ignited his interest in fire-fighting.

“I like to help people, so I decided that this may be the best avenue for me to give back to the community.” The former St. Michael School student was first stationed at Probyn Street as part of the driving staff after a successful application and three months of basic fire service training. He then moved on to the St. John station before returning to headquarters.

“Being a part of the driving staff is an exciting thing for me. Although I have not been to anything critical, I still enjoy it,” he said. (LW)

Source: www.barbadostoday.bb

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

6 Ton Obsolete Satellite Falling To Earth

-
Image
A nearly 6-ton satellite is gradually falling from Earth orbit, and parts of it could crash to the surface as early as Friday, September 23 (today), NASA officials said. NASA officials told ABC News overnight that they won't know where the satellite will hit until two hours before it enters the Earth's atmosphere, moving at 5 miles per second. The space agency's space debris experts predict that at least 26 large pieces of the satellite will survive the scorching temperatures of atmospheric re-entry. But exactly where the UARS satellite debris will fall is uncertain. NASA officials have said that the drop zone for UARS satellite debris could be anywhere between the latitudes of northern Canada and southern South America, an area that includes much of the planet. The satellite should re-enter over a 500-mile (804-kilometer) track, according to NASA officials. Since 75 percent of Earth is covered with ocean, there is a high likelihood that the satellite will re-enter ov...
Read more

Chief Fire Officer: Not Enough Citizens Taking Fire Prevention Seriously

-
Chief Fire Officer Wilfred Marshall has expressed concern about the high number of structural fires taking place in Barbados, in particular private dwelling houses and commercial building fires. Marshall has noted that while some fires are due to carelessness on the part of homeowners and others have been deemed as “suspicious”, a number of these fires have been classified as “undetermined”. Homeowners and people in general still have a role to play in fire prevention, he has noted. Speaking to the Barbados Advocate yesterday at Barbados Fire Service Headquarters located at Probyn Street Bridgetown, the Chief Fire Officer lamented about the number of fires of which the origin has not been determined. “I am always concerned that we have a high percentage of undetermined fires. We work closely with the police in terms of determining the cause of fires and so it is not only the Fire Service that is involved in determining the cause of a fire. We work closely with them as they bring a fore...
Read more