A number of fire personnel from the Gambia Fire and Rescue Services, who prefer to be anonymous, have called on the authorities to investigate growing dissatisfaction among staff which they say could lead to a confrontation between them and their heads or even a strike.
They said the plight of fire service men has been very bad and needs to be looked into because it is a very important unit of the security service of the country.
“We have up to 6 or more fire fighters on sick leave, among them two who need overseas treatment since last year and nothing has been done to help them,” one of them told The Standard.
According to them, Government should also look into their risk allowances and check what happens to all the monies collected from their regular deductions and how the authorities have used them.
They also urged the top brass of the fire service to reverse the decision to redeploy the PRO from his post to Brikama, alleging that the decision is unjustifiable.
“We don’t want to be indisciplined because we, fire service, has been nationally praised to be the most disciplined force among our sister forces. But let no one take our kindness to be weakness. If fire breaks out anywhere, it is fire fighters who go to put out the fire but if fire fighters themselves start a fire, who will put the fire out. So we want the authorities to intervene now and address our concerns,” another one said.
In the absence of a PRO, last night The Standard unsuccessfully tried to get comments from the top brass of the force on these matters but will continue to seek their reaction today.
