Bethel Town needs a fire substation – deputy mayor - Calls on colleagues to put pressure on the Government

Western Bureau:

Danree Delancy, the deputy mayor of Savanna-la-Mar, is calling on his colleagues at the Westmoreland Municipal Corporation (WMC) to help him to put pressure on the central Government in his bid to get a substation of the parish’s fire department established in the Bethel Town community.

“We need a fire substation in Bethel Town. I don’t think I am getting enough support from the Westmoreland Municipal Corporation in that regard,” said Delancy, while speaking at last week’s monthly meeting of the WMC. “I am asking for support from the WMC to put more pressure on the central Government so that this much-needed facility can come into being. We cannot delay anymore; delay is danger. Rome is burning, Your Worship. Bethel Town and its environs are burning.”

According to Delancy, citizens are being burned out of their homes and losing their possessions, while the central Government continues to slack off and do nothing towards advancing the recommendation to establish the fire substation in Bethel Town.

“I am asking for the support of everyone. From my colleagues who are green and my colleagues who are orange. This is not a political move, Your Worship. This is a move to save lives and property,” insisted Delancy.

WILL SERVE ALL DIVISIONS

Delancy, who is also the People’s National Party councillor for the Bethel Town division, said the fire substation for which he has consistently been lobbying, when established, will operate from the compound of the Bethel Town Police Station and will not only serve his division.

“It will serve the division of Cornwall Mountain, it will serve Darlington, it will serve Ramble in Hanover, it will serve Cambridge (in St James), where the mayor of Montego Bay (Homer Davis) is the councillor,” said Delancy.

In recounting two recent incidents in and around Bethel Town, the deputy mayor said two houses, one in Galloway and the other in the adjoining Leamington division, were completely destroyed because they lack the capacity for firefighting.

“The only thing the lady in Galloway saved was her handbag. That is so because it was on her shoulder. Everything else was completely destroyed,” said Delancy.

He said the built-up residential and commercial zones in his division, which are hilly and treacherous terrain, are located 22.5 miles from the headquarters of the Westmoreland Fire Department and approximately 17.5 miles from the nearest fire station in St James.

“By the time the fire units come from Montego Bay, in St James, everything will be gone. That truck is carrying 80 gallons of water and takes an eternity to get up here. Even if the buildings were made of steel, it would have been liquefied by then,” Delancy said.