Chief Fire Officer in the Dominica Fire Service, Josiah Dupuis, has promised that the department will be “more deliberate and conclusive,” after admitting that there are deficiencies in fire investigations.
He spoke at a press conference on Monday.
Dupuis admitted that the Fire Service does have their “struggles and deficiencies” as it relates to fire investigations and response because of terrain and distance that “any particular station is expected to cover,” however; they will ensure that a number of areas are up to standard in gathering information.
“Notwithstanding those deficiencies, which would also include our ability to analyze samples from fire scenes, in spite of those challenges, I am here to say that we are going to be more deliberate, we are going to be more thorough, we are going to ensure that we get better results from our investigations,” he said.
Dupuis highlighted that following a discussion with “the insurance company,” a fire investigation team will be organized, especially in fire reports that seem to have “ a little bit of foul play,” to assist in conducting investigations accurately.
“The intention is to address our current practice. Usually, if there would be a fire in Portsmouth, what would generally happen is that our officers from our Portsmouth Station who mostly tends to be the person who responded to the fire, they would basically do the investigation. What we are doing from just a few months now, the intention is to have persons assigned to that particular fire, especially where we suspect that there is a little bit of foul play,” he said.
With this oncoming initiative, Dupuis said that investigations will then be “certainly more thorough and deliberate to ensure that we get better results as it relates to investigations.”
He noted that reported cases, such as arson, have a difficult investigative process, however with the Fire Service becoming more deliberate in their investigative approach.
“We will get better results in determining a cause,” he stated.
Dupuis remarked that he is very confident that the Fire Service is determined to do better in this area of investigation.
This is a good start acknowledgement that we have problems find solutions, implement, and measure results, and feedback. This is what is expected. Hopefully we can follow through and see improvements.
I’m glad he brought this to the public’s attention. Hopefully, those who know something can speak up about it. Call the crimestoppers hotline to give an anonymous tip. This is a crime too; insurance fraud. Happy the fire dep’t showing some improvements.
Good work Dupuis. The assignment of experienced fire officers will be good, if there is foul play the person should pay for it. Suggestion: maybe they(the persons responsible) can also mentor the recent additions. Learning never stops.