Non-essential persons prohibited from visiting fire stations

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Residents are temporarily prohibited from entering all fire stations in the territory due to the COVID-19 precautionary measures implemented by the Virgin Islands Fire & Rescue Service (VIFRS).

Chief Fire Officer Zebalon McLean told BVI News the protocol is in place to protect the safety of all fire officers.

He said: “Persons are not to come to the fire stations. The only people who should be at the fire stations would be fire officers or other essential personnel like police officers, hospital or medical workers.”

“Of course, there would be some other essential workers who have been cleared who need to come in and repair things like plumbing, or the internet cables or electrical components and those kinds of things,” McLean added.

The Fire Chief further explained that while persons will not be allowed to enter the buildings, they can still come on the compound to report urgent matters, ‘if absolutely necessary’.

“You can certainly come up to the stations and then lodge a complaint or alert us on something that is happening. But, right now, persons are not allowed inside of the stations,” he said.

“We do have a job to do, we have a job to save lives, we just don’t want it to be at the cost of our lives, so we are taking all due precautions that we can to ensure that doesn’t happen,” the Fire Chief added.

McLean also commended his officers for their continuous efforts in stepping up and responding to all incidents during this period.

He said these officers will be using Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) while on duty. These PPEs were supplied to the VIFRS from various government departments.