Fire trucks were bought… not donated
We reported two weeks ago that the National Fire Service had received eight right-hand fire trucks from the United Kingdom. The Ministry of Public Utilities and National Emergency Management stated in a release that the trucks were bought for four hundred and fifteen thousand dollars. But The News, an online U.K. newspaper said that Durham County firefighters had in fact donated the vehicles to Belize. This sent off alarms in the Ministry of Public Utilities and CEO Colonel George Lovell said that the UK newspaper needs to apologize for making a statement that is not true.
George Lovell, C.E.O., Ministry of NEMO
“The trucks were purchased and the letter we are sending to editor of The News from Portsmouth actually state our position on these trucks. We state that no fire truck was donated by any fire service in the U.K. to Belize. These trucks were bought and paid for from the government. As a matter of fact, what we’re doing is we are asking the editor of The News to retract their statement that they had published in their paper on the second of June 2009, concerning shipment of the fire trucks to Belize. The article that they have there is wrong and calls into question our integrity. Have you ever driven with one of these right hand drive vehicles before? I have and it took me half hour to learn from a left hand to a right hand. The only thing is when you are overtaking that you are too close to people ahead of you is the difficulty in seeing if you’re path is clear before you can overtake. Other than that I don’t see any difficulty. As a matter of fact, it makes it quite easy for you to handle it terms of keeping away from the center line and that sort of thing because you are right there of the side of the road and you can see the edge of the road clearly.”
Lovell says that the Ministry is considering deploying the trucks in several communities, including Placencia, Pomona, Ladyville, San Narcisio, and P.G. However, some refurbishments need to be completed before they are sent out.
