Take Care of Fire Hydrants – JFB

Having repaired 1,056 fire hydrants across the island in 2022, the Jamaica Fire Brigade (JFB) is encouraging citizens to take care of the devices.

Hydrants are often damaged due to construction taking place in communities and motor-vehicle crashes.

“If there is a hydrant close to your house, take care of it. Guard it zealously because that could mean your house being saved or destroyed if there is a fire,” said JFB Commissioner, Stewart Beckford, in an interview with JIS News.

He pointed out that firefighters rely heavily on the hydrants when they respond to emergencies.

“The hydrants are our lifeblood. They are very dear to us and we want the public to treat them that way,” he said.

The Commissioner explained that the fire trucks have a limited amount of water and as such, once the firefighters arrive on the scene of a fire, the first task is to identify a working hydrant that is close by.

He noted that the trucks have approximately 4,000 litres of water that could be pumped out in about seven minutes.

Commissioner Beckford told JIS News that without a constant flow of water, valuable time would be lost, as several trips would have to be made to replenish supply.

He called on residents and citizens’ associations to adopt the hydrants located in their communities.

“You can adopt the hydrants and make sure that they are properly working and if they are not working, contact… your nearest fire station and we will come out and do the necessary repairs. We want to make sure that as many of them as possible are actually functioning when we do need to use them,” the Commissioner said.

He further indicated that in 2022, the JFB inspected 659 hydrants while 352 were serviced.

Persons may also connect with the JFB on social media via Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.