Public Criticism of Fire Department’s Response to Cran Street Inferno

In the wake of the blaze, the fire department has once again come under criticism for its response to the distress call. According to onlookers who went live on social media, the fire truck arrived at the scene about half an hour after the call was made. That account is being disputed by the station manager who told the media this afternoon that firefighters arrived at the location within three minutes of receiving the call.

Kenneth Mortis, Station Supervisor, National Fire Service

Kenneth Mortis

“It’s unfortunate, we can try our best time and time again to take this opportunity to educate the general populace exactly the ins and outs of the fire department.  She did mention that we took forty minutes, I am looking at forty minutes, what truth is there behind that?  And I am not going to go in a back and forth versus the general populace.  That is her view and I her view we took forty minutes.  We received the call at 9:29 p.m. and in three minutes we were on the scene.  Now we are located here at the Marion Jones and that fire on Cran Street was like a stone’s throw away.  The streets were already quiet and we did not have to compete with other vehicular traffic blocking our way, it was an in and out.  But what I have learned in my own years of experience, what is actually a minute in reality feels like forever.  It feels like an eternity.  It’s an unfortunate situation but that is the curse of being a firefighter in this emergency department or in this emergency service that we serve.  We have two curses, we’re always late and we never bring water.”