The 9th annual conference of the Caribbean Association of

Fire Chiefs (CAFC) was held recently in Montego Bay at the

Rose Hall Resort and Spa from 28 November—3 December.

Highlights of the year’s conference was the second staging of

the Firefighters Challenge as well as the inaugural staging of

the EMS challenge competition.

Eighteen countries participated in the conference that had

three streams of activities running simultaneously. Stream

one was the Chiefs' Conference—a forum for regional fire

and rescue planning, standardization of training and equip-

ment to facilitate joint regional responses.

Keynote speaker was Chief Rosemary Cloud, fire chief for

the city of East Georgia and the first African American female

fire chief in the United States. Mr. Ronald Jackson, Director

General of the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emer-

gency Management also provided a well received presen-

tation.

Stream two focused on staff training and included the

conduct of the Junior Officers’ Leadership Academy

(JOLA), designed to train fire service officers in contem-

porary management concepts. The curriculum included

FEMA certified Incident Command Training, Personnel

Management, Authentic Leadership and Management of

Stress.

Stream three was the first presentation of International

Trauma Life Support (ITLS) training for emergency techni-

cians and first responders. The conference ended on a

high note with the second staging of the regional Fire

Fighters’ Challenge. Defending champion Jamaica lost to

Collis Ranking of Montserrat.

C orporal Winsome Grant a 15 year serving member of

the Jamaica Fire Brigade copped the prize of Caribbean

Fire Fighter of the Year at the recent Caribbean Association

of Fire Chiefs Conference (CAFC) in Montego Bay ,after

being nominated by the area officer for Area IV, Assistant

Commissioner Dave McLaughlin.

The CAFC announced the establishment of the award of

Caribbean firefighter for the 2009 conference which was also

held in Jamaica and was won by firefighter Jon Baptiste of

Dominica. Eligibility for the award is open to active fire offi-

cers, sub-officers and leading firefighters who display leader-

ship and commitment, as well as community involvement

According to the profile submitted, Corporal Grant (who

was the first female firefighter assigned to the St. James Divi-

sion) was a very influential firefighter who has spearheaded

and assisted in many projects. She is a known community

volunteer who is a member of various organizations. She is a

life member of the Jamaica Agricultural Society, a volunteer ,

confidential counselor and tester with the National HIV/STI

Programme, public relations officer for the St. James Branch

of the Jamaica Red Cross in addition to her fire service com-

petencies as emergency medical technician and fire safety

inspector. Award details include a plaque for the winner

as well as cash prize of US$500.00 and hotel accommo-

dation and airfare for the next CAFC conference, which

will be held in Trinidad and Tobago.

J A M A I C A F I R E B R I G A D EJ A M A I C A F I R E B R I G A D EJ A M A I C A F I R E B R I G A D EJ A M A I C A F I R E B R I G A D E

Firefighter of the Year

CAFC Conference 2010

Firebreak J A N U A R Y , 2 0 1 1 V O L U M E 1 , I S S U E 1

Cpl. Winsome Grant receives her award from Chief G. N.

Richards, CAFC President

The news letter of the Jamaica Fire Brigade

A fter repeated requests we are pleased to announce the return of Firebreak “the news letter of the Jamaica Fire Brigade.” in

an exciting new format. The newsletter will be published quarterly

as a free electronic publication to those registered in our mailing

list or it may be viewed on the Brigade’s website.

The intention is to present updates on Jamaica Fire Brigade activi-

ties as well as providing a forum for the membership of the Bri-

gade to present ideas and opinions on brigade events and polices.

The forum will also provide a vehicle for creative expression as we

invite poetry, jokes, photographs and technical content from mem-

bers for publication each quarter.

In this issue we present highlights from the recent conference of

the Caribbean Association of Fire Chiefs held in Montego Bay as

well as reviewing two initiatives aimed at increasing fire safety

awareness - the first Safety Camp and the second staging of the St.

Catherine Fire Safety Quiz Competition.

This issue also reports on the launch of the Area I chapter of the

Retired Fire Fighters association, reviews staff recognition initiatives

being pursued in various divisions of the brigade and presents the

honour role of members who have passed.

Once again readers are invited to submit material for publication in

subsequent issues of Firebreak and to provide feedback on any

features or issues they would like to have included in the news

letter.

“One who understands much displays a greater sim-

plicity of character than one who understands little”.

Alexander Chase

Editorial P A G E 2

F I R E B R E A K

The winning Jamaican EMS team pose with Chiefs G.N. Richards, Anthony Lewis and FEMA instructor Les Williams at the awards cere-mony

Retired Firefighters Association On 24th July this year the Area I Chapter of the Retired

Fire Officers Association was launched at Curphy Place in

St. Andrew. Forty– five retired officers including former

Commissioners Ridgeway and Whyte gathered for the brief

launching ceremony followed by the significantly longer

reception that followed.

The launch allowed for the election of an executive group

to steer the activities of the association and one of the first

official acts of the executive was to amend the name of the

association to the Retired Firefighters Association , a name

they felt was more all embracing to the wider membership

they anticipated. This first chapter of the national associa-

tion is far advanced in the development of by laws that can

be used as the model to guide the development of the

other chapters.

The executive of the area I chapter are Mr. Byrel Cam-

eron– President, Lynden Mattocks—vice president, Ru-

dolph Sommerville—secretary, Herbert Hall—Assistant

secretary, Henry McKenzie— treasurer, Kenneth Afflick—

public relations officer and chaplaincy shared by Ms. D.

Charlton and Mr. George Pinnock

Retired firefighters in animated conversation at the launch of the association. Left to right, L. I. Henry, C. Kerr, F.”Freddy” Whyte former commissioner and Ivan Ashley

In July 2010 the Jamaica Fire Brigade in association with the St James Branch of the Jamaica Red Cross hosted the first Fire and Life Safety Camp for chil-dren aged 9-15 years under the theme: “Teach the children well and let them live”. Over fifty participants from children's homes in the division including hearing impaired and physically challenged children attended camp each day for two (2) weeks. They learnt basic fire safety, drug awareness and other life skills presented by resource persons from the JFB, Red Cross, and other non-government organizations. The camp also exposed students from the University of the West Indies, Northern Caribbean University Nursing School and Firefighters to volunteer-ism, mentorship and leadership roles in society.

V O L U M E 1 , I S S U E 1 P A G E 3

Fire Safety Camp

Firebreak regrets the passing of the following members of the Brigade:

Joslyn Smith Sharmane Campbell-Edwards

Junior Bailey Shane Christian

Derrick Lawrence

Condolences to their family and friends and to those members of staff who also lost loved ones.

The fire prevention team of the St. Catherine Division staged its

second annual fire Safety Quiz competition as part of Fire Safety

Awareness Week Celebrations in October 2010. The competition

targeted primary schools in the division and had some fourteen

schools competing.

The main objectives of the competition were to increase the partici-

pants’ fire safety awareness generally as well as to increase their

knowledge about the fire brigade and all its emergency response and

administrative activities.

Firebreak understands that the main objectives were met and that

the competition has become extremely popular and was keenly con-

tested by schools in the division. Funding for the competition was

provided by generous sponsorship from commercial and corporate

donors. The team from the St. Catherine Primary School was the

ultimate winner when they defeated the team from Old Harbour

Primary School 46 to 38. A number of sponsors have already com-

mitted to making the next contest bigger and better in 2011.

FP Quiz Competition

Heat Stroke

Fire Brigade Cpl. P. Arscott demonstrates the use of equip-

ment to avid viewers at the Fire Safety Camp.

Members of the St. Catherine Fire Prevention Team pose with the winning school.

A man calls the fire department and says, "Yes, I have just had my front yard landscaped, I have a nice new flower bed, a new fish pond with a fountain and a new rose garden." "Very nice," the firefighter says, "but what does that have to do with the fire service?" "Well," the man answers, "the house next door is on fire and I don't want you to trample my front yard."

Condolences

are:

• To increase staff cohesiveness

• To stimulate creativity

• To create a motivating work environment and

• To increase individual and organizational productivity

Once the policy is properly enacted, employees will be recog-

nized at both departmental and organizational levels and all will

be eligible for monthly or quarterly recognition. Criteria has also

been developed as the basis for the selection of employee of the

year from both the uniformed and non-uniformed streams of the

service.

The employee recognition scheme coincidentally comes at a time

when the Brigade is undergoing a phased implementation of the

Performance Monitoring Appraisal System (PMAS). The intention

is to conduct a phased rollout of PMAS across the Brigade for all

civilian staff by April 2011, and then to start the implementation

of a customized version of the programme for firefighters. The

need for customization arose from the fact that most of the core

functions of fire fighters are performed as part of a team and the

current model of PMAS is designed to appraise individual work

plans and work flow.

I t is an accepted feature of contemporary management practice that

employee recognition must be a feature of senior management and

human resource managers arsenal. The classic motivational theorists

Maslow and Herzberg identified the need for status, social acceptance

and recognition and this work has been expanded to include expec-

tancy, equity, goal setting and other modern theories of motivation.

The Jamaica Fire Brigade has long recognized the need for employee

recognition through the award of good conduct chevrons but there

has not been a policy to guide all sections and divisions in the recogni-

tion of employees. Various divisions independently have attempted to

foster a culture of employee recognition. St. James, Trelawny, and

KSA are just a few of the divisions that have ongoing programmes of

employee recognition.

The management of the Brigade has now moved to formally docu-

ment guidelines for an employee recognition scheme to standardize

and guide these activities throughout the service. The Commissioner

announced the preparation of the policy document at the recently

held divisional Heads meeting in Runaway Bay, St. Ann.

The employee recognition scheme is designed to promote an environ-

ment that formally acknowledges excellence and the contribution of

all members because the organization requires the synergy of both

support and emergency response staff. The scheme will utilize non-

monetary appreciation mechanisms to challenge and motivate staff to

higher levels of productivity. The general objectives of the scheme

Left to right Commissioner L. Williams, Colton Kerr, Deputy Commissioner Neil

Findley and Lynden Mattocks share a joke at the launch of the Retired Fire Fighters

Association

Employee recognition scheme

Saving Lives, Protecting

Property

V O L U M E 1 , I S S U E 1 P A G E 4

Jamaica Fire Brigade Jamaica Fire Brigade Jamaica Fire Brigade Jamaica Fire Brigade Brigade Headquarters

14 Port Royal Street, Kingston Tele: 967-0550/4607 Fax:967-3594

E-mail: jamfire@cwjamaica.com Website: www.jamaicafirebrigade.org