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~ Call 919 for faster fire response ~

PHILIPSBURG--"Call 919 in case of a fire, not 911," is an important message from the Fire Department.

Although 911 may also be utilised, calls are taken by a controller. When people dial 919, the calls are answered by fire officers who are on duty 24/7 and have specific training and knowledge that a non-Fire Department controller does not have.

Calling 919 enables the fire officer to ask specific questions that will help determine whether the fire is a threat to life or property, or whether it is caused, for example, by someone burning garbage.

In the case of the house fire in St. Peters on Saturday, a call initially was received from a passerby who reported having seen smoke. No further information was available to the Fire Department.

"The first call was received minutes after 8:00am," said Fire Department Duty Officer Silvanico Pauletta. "A second, more detailed call was made from the scene a little bit later, but units were dispatched as soon as a call of a fire was received."

Pauletta disputes the long time a member of the public said it had taken the Fire Department to reach the scene. However, he said calls could be delayed by having gone through the 911 call centre.

"We can deal with a call faster if members of the public dial 919 directly," he said. "When people call 911, there is a delay because the operator then has to contact us, and we don't always receive full information."

As the second call was quite detailed and was made to the Fire Department directly, it is believed that this call may have been made by one of the fire officers who stopped on their way home to check out the smoke they saw.

At the scene, the Fire Department managed to prevent the fire from spreading, which ensured that no other dwellings burnt down. The fire was under control at 8:40am. Initially it was believed that seven people had become homeless, but one family had not been spoken to and up to 13 people may have been affected.

The Red Cross and the police also attended the scene. "The police were very helpful in managing and clearing the scene," said Pauletta. He said the police had been at the scene at the time of the fire, and not, as a police press release incorrectly stated, hours later at 12:30pm.

Pauletta also said the Fire Department had liaised with the Social Welfare Department, which arranged emergency housing for the people who had lost their homes, and that a number of politicians had been present at the scene, including Prime Minister Sarah Wescot-Williams, Minister of Public Housing, Spatial Planning, Environment and Infrastructure VROMI Maurice Lake, Social Welfare Minister Cornelius de Weever and Members of Parliament Louis Laveist and Hyacinth Richardson.

Wescot-Williams and Lake both sent press releases, information from which was included in Monday's article about the fire.

Lake's press release said his Ministry had arranged emergency housing for the victims. However, the Fire Department stated that Minister de Weever's Ministry had made the arrangements. Lake said in an invited comment that he had been at hand to support victims and finally stated that, although the press release was not wrong per se, the information might not have been interpreted correctly and that he had assisted the Department of Social Affairs with the housing situation.

"This is not about getting credit," said Lake. "That's not how you run a country. Running a country is about helping the people in need and that is what we did on Saturday. Teamwork is very important in dealing with disasters like this."

Prime Minister Wescot-Williams and Ministers Lake and De Weever visited the victims who were staying at the St. Peters Community Centre, where they lent a listening ear and comforted those affected by the fire.

Fire Officer Pauletta mentioned that the Fire Department, which just instated its new Chief Clive Richardson, is planning a Fire Prevention Week in October, during which fire officers will go out into the community to raise awareness and maximise fire prevention.

A second fire station near the airport is in the process of being built and the Fire Department hopes it will be completed towards the end of the year. With this new station, response times will be improved for parts of the island that farther away from the current fire station.