Ground Broken for New Fire Station in Dangriga

Dangriga will have a state-of-the-art fire station in about a year from now, through funding of one point two million U.S. dollars from the U.S. Government. Ground has been broken in that municipality to mark the start of construction. Present were the Minister of Sustainable Development, Orlando Habet, Dangriga Area Representative, Minister of State Doctor Louis Zabaneh and U.S. Charge d’ Affaires, Leyla Moses-Ones. Minister says the situation in the Fire Department was so dire when he assumed office there were few stations that could be rehabilitated. The rest needed new facilities.

Orlando Habet

Orlando Habet, Minister, Sustainable Development

“We saw it as priority to be able to upgraded or to construct new ones that were really out of order and really were in the worst deplorable conditions. So with our strong partnership and relationship that we have been in collaboration with the United States Government through the US Embassy and the United States military liaison office, last year we completed a new fire station in Belmopan, which is a significant improvement from what was there before. It serves more than one purpose and now the second of those two larger ones – investment in the fire station is now coming here to Dangriga. 0We’re also continuing to get the assistance with fire trucks and as I mentioned, we have a pilot program for emergency medical services starting in the Cayo District and then hopefully we’ll move it as soon as possible to the other districts.”

Leyla Moses-Ones

Leyla Moses-Ones, US Charge d’ Affaires

“This is part of the US Government’s Humanitarian Assistance Program that is run through the Department of Defense, and more specifically, US South Com, which is based in Miami. We have a very robust program through the Humanitarian Assistance Program with health security, focused on fire safety and also projects that are ongoing with regard to supporting villages, in terms of medical intervention, so we are teaming up with the Ministry of Health and Wellness soon to send out military personnel who are medical officials who are certified medically to go into the villages and help provide medical care to those remote areas.”

Area Representative for Dangriga, Dr Louis Zabaneh says the new facility will no doubt bring about a sense of comfort since it will enhance the firefighting skills of the fire station in that municipality.