Firefighters living on edge - Brigade rocked by deaths of members

For the past 10 months, the flags at the Jamaica Fire Brigade (JFB) stations have consistently been flown at half mast as several of the organisation's members have died under various circumstances.

"It's a solemn and sad occasion for the fire brigade. Firefighters are dying and it's something we hear every month since November last year. It makes you start to wonder if there is something happening in the organisation, if there is a curse on the fire brigade. It is two months shy of a year and the news just keep coming. Imagine getting ready to bury a firefighter and then you hear another just died? How do you cope with it?" one JFB member asked.

The concerns were raised following the death of Shahine Nelson, who died in a motor vehicle collision late Friday night when the car she was driving collided with a truck at the intersection of Brunswick Avenue and Angels Toll Plaza Road in Spanish Town, St Catherine. Nelson's brother, firefighter Lorenzo Douse, also died in a traffic incident in 2022. Last month, Shamere Myrie, who was attached to the Trench Town Fire Station, was fatally stabbed overseas by another Jamaican, who is said to also be a firefighter, where both men were temporary workers.

One JFB member who spoke with THE STAR expressed concern at the bad news.

"It makes you think about everything to be honest, and although we are getting counselling and intervention by the chaplaincy unit, I am still a little worried," said the firefighter who joined in June. However, a colleague who joined last December was more positive.

"There was a time when you had police dying a lot and now it's firefighters and we are all civil servants. So maybe it's just one of those things. We have a good chaplaincy unit and we get a little time to de-stress whether football or domino so I think we alright," another fireman chimed.

Patrick Gooden, JFB assistant commissioner in charge of area one, noted that there is concern about the influx of deaths of firefighters.

"There is a chaplaincy unit and up to yesterday [Saturday], they were at the station where the young lady used to work and they would be going back tomorrow [Monday] as well as to try, based on information I have received, to go into a number of stations to have sessions with the staff. And if there is a need for an individual kind of session, then they would do that. I did have concerns about whether or not persons will be having issues coming out of these incidents and I have recognised and observed that some individuals take it harder than some and they have identified those persons. It is a number of stations so it's almost impossible to get everyone in a single space at any point in time so they would have to do it station by station," Gooden told THE STAR.

He said that on any given day, firefighters are faced with varying adversities, which also raises concerns for the mental health of those on the front line. He said there has to be constant intervention and assessment for the firefighters.

"One of the things that is in place is that if the chaplaincy unit believes that the situation is overwhelming to them, there is always the possibility to seek external assistance. But you know, again, persons are good at disguising their situations for whatsoever reason. But if you look closely, you can find persons with those issues and seek intervention on their behalf," he said.