Former Commissioner of JFB Gets OD

A career that began as a means of securing gainful employment, soon turned into something much more for former Commissioner of the Jamaica Fire Brigade (JFB), Laurie Williams.

Mr. Williams was among several Jamaicans who were recently recognised by the Government of Jamaica for their contributions to various fields.

The former Commissioner was conferred with the Order of Distinction in the rank of Officer (OD) on October 21, for outstanding contribution to the emergency services and public safety through the JFB.

He tells JIS News that his perspective of being a firefighter changed after completing his initial training—which he described as a form of indoctrination—when he first joined the organisation, then known as the Kingston and St. Andrew Fire Brigade, now the JFB.

“At the end of training and during that first year of probation, I started to realise that I like this, against the background that my first fire at night was one in which there was a fatality. A lady died and guess who was one of the people who discovered where the remains of the dead was,” Mr. Williams recalls.

He informs that he was sobered by the experience, which made him realised that the job was much more than the “bells [and whistles]” that accompanied it.

“At the time, we used to hang on to the back of the fire trucks [and] we used to wear those black tunics with a lot of buttons down the front,” Mr. Williams shares.

Driven by his newfound passion for his chosen profession, Mr. Williams says that as the years progressed, he started to pay keen attention to officers who led their teams to potentially life-threatening situations.

“I was always impressed by the officers who led us to the various fires that I went to, which range from rubbish fires in Coronation Market to bush fires on the hillside in Jacks Hill, motor-vehicle accidents and the whole gamut in-between,” says Mr. Williams.

He notes that the officers remained calm and always seemed to take each incident in stride.

“I was wondering how they did it and whether I would get to a stage that I would be able to maintain that level of composure,” he says.

That day would eventually come, as Mr. Williams, who rose through the ranks of the JFB, seized every opportunity he could to increase his knowledge about firefighting.

His commitment to personal development caught the attention of his superiors and he was asked about his interest in being recommended to train recruits.

“I leapt at the opportunity and that is how I went to training school. I was trained to be an instructor,” says Mr. Williams, adding that he spent time at training school as a Lance Corporal and was later successful in being sent overseas to St John’s, Antigua, to do a trainer of trainers’ programme, courtesy of the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM).

He also completed courses at the Fire Service College, having been recommended by the JFB.

“I just kept climbing from there, a combination of ambition, application and being able to go through the various assessment centres as opportunities presented themselves, until, before I knew it, I was vying for the post of Commissioner in 2007,” says Mr. Williams.

One of the most defining moments in the former Commissioner’s career was a training exercise at the Fire Service College, where he was presented with a no-win scenario.

Mr. Williams recounts that he had faced a situation involving both a chemical incident and a fire, where he continually requested and applied additional resources to contain the emergency.

However, despite his efforts, time was running against him. The more resources he attempted to deploy, the less time he seemed to have. When he reached out for further assistance, he was informed that the equipment would take even longer to arrive than anticipated.

He tells JIS News that he eventually made the decision to pull his team back, after realising that saving the building was no longer possible.

“I told my second-in-command to pull back everyone, to evacuate. We had lost it,” says Mr. Williams, eventually realising the lesson his instructors were trying to teach him.

“It was not about the operation; it was about the people. It was not about the building; it was about the team and staying in charge no matter what happened,” says Mr. Williams.

He indicates that from that situation, his mantra became “people over resources”, and as such, his leadership philosophy throughout his tenure as Commissioner was built on the lesson learnt from that scenario.

He recalls that when there was an incident, the focus was never on the extent of the damage to the vehicle but, instead, “are the people safe; is anybody hurt?”.

As Commissioner, Mr. Williams was integral in the digital transformation of the JFB, as many of what exists today started under his leadership.

He indicates that during his tenure as head of the JFB, he ensured that firefighters received the required training so that they would be “accepting and ready to utilise technology as part of their ongoing toolkit rather than computer just being decorations on desk, but actually using software to help to manage the resources and the risk in the organisation and in the response area.

With a career lasting 37 years until his retirement in 2014, Mr. Williams says he was thrilled when he got the news about receiving a national award.

‘I was elated [and] surprised. I could feel the hands of persons who I left behind in the Brigade, persons whom I worked with, and I could feel the hands of persons external to the Brigade who knew me and would listen to what the persons who were still there would say to them in terms of any form of recommendation,” he says.

Meanwhile, Current Commissioner, JFB, Stewart Beckford, tells JIS News that Mr. Williams is “truly deserving of the award” given by the Government.

“I got the opportunity to work with him closely, when he was appointed Commissioner in 2007, as a staff officer, and he had a work ethic that was second to none,” says Mr. Beckford.

“He was an excellent mentor. He had a knack for identifying and nurturing talent, and those of us who are currently in leadership position would have been identified from early by then Commissioner Williams,” he adds.

Mr. Beckford further points out that many persons within the Brigade saw the former Commissioner as a transformational leader.

“A lot of the transformation that we are now reaping the benefits of would have started under his leadership,” he says.

Mr. Beckford adds that the 2024 honouree has also made significant impact in the areas of fire prevention and training.

“He was of the view that it is best for us to prevent fires than responding to them and so when he became Chief Fire Prevention Officer, he would have developed a cadre of inspectors [and] trained them up to the level where they could go out and conduct inspection at the highest standard,” says Mr. Beckford.

He notes that Mr. Williams ensured that firefighters were trained in the international building codes, which are now being adopted by the current Building Act.