Head of the Dominica Fire and Ambulance Services, Wayne Letang has announced that the department responded to a total of 11,299 calls in 2023. He made the announcement during a press conference on Monday.
“We can say from data [showing] clearly in 2023, that’s January to December 2023, the fire and Ambulance Services had responded to 11,299 calls and those calls are in relation to our core activities of firefighting, ambulance service, motor vehicle, accidents, rescues and fire prevention,” he revealed.
According to Letang, the ambulance services contribute to almost 90 percent of the service delivery at the Fire and Ambulance Services, “so the year 2023 we responded to 10,623 calls and these are calls we actually responded to based on when persons called.”
“During these calls, we refer to persons and we treat persons with trauma and medical conditions,” he explained.
Furthermore, Letang pointed out that most people are unaware of the educational component of the Fire and Ambulance Services called the prevention unit, a team of four people responsible for traveling around the country throughout the year, engaging in lectures, training, and inspection of buildings, etc…
“In 2023 we could say that this unit did fire prevention work, first aid training, inspections, and alike,” Letang stated. “We trained approximately 1,199 persons during that year and the interesting thing is, this has impacted on the people in a positive way.”
He continued, “Persons learned how to deal with incidents at their homes which include fire occurrences and also lifesaving issues.”
Meanwhile, Letang said the rate of motor vehicle accidents is one area that fire officials are very concerned about.
“And when we say motor vehicular accidents responses, we at the Fire and Ambulance Services mean that these are actual calls where persons were either trapped or injured in a motor vehicular accident,” he explained. “And that record showed that we responded to 117 calls in 2023.”
He stated, however, that this is a jump from previous years.
“In 2022 we had 93 and in 2021 we had 90,” Letang revealed.
Letang also indicated that an important portion of the data is bushfires.
“This time of the year is the driest time of the year in Dominica and locally we call it the bushfire [brushfire] season,” he said.
He went on to state that in 2023 the department responded to 117 of those calls.
“This year so far, 2024 January to March we have responded to 60 of those calls and the brushfire season is just beginning,” Letang noted. “We expect a long, dry spell and we expect during the month of May into June that the amount increases.”
He added, “But data tells us that the brush fires which occur are not all naturally occurring. And we are talking about the influence of man.”
In that regard, Letang called on the Dominican public to be aware of the extent of damage fire can cause to communities.
“During agricultural practices we find that a lot of persons use fire to clear the land,” he noted. “We advise as a fire department to clear the land and you only use fire to get rid of some of the waste after clearing. Pile the waste into heaps and burn them by small heaps rather than set the place [on] fire.”
Letang noted that fire damage is not only about physical property but also its effect on human beings.
“Smoke can kill, elderly and infants in the presence of smoke can be a very dangerous thing and what we are saying is that one of the causes of an irrespirable environment is that of smoke,” he explained. “So please be aware of that and try to reduce on the amount of burning.”
whilst you talking and giving data I seein one fireman on ambulance on the southeast.i even say them man is robots cuz the way they operate my god…..I must commend them. the police up there good to you know because I see they working like a unit. but letang send help because if allu lose them allu losing good ones…