By Svetlana Marshall

Chief Fire Officer, Gregory Wickham was roasted this morning over the Fire Service’s poor response to the Mahdia School Dorm fire which claimed the lives of 20 children.

The Fire Chief appeared before the Commission of Inquiry and was questioned about the many challenges that faced the Mahdia Fire Station that were never addressed.

Wickham, who has been a fire fighter for 30 years, confirmed earlier reports by the Officer in Charge of the Mahdia Fire Station, that the Fire Station lacked many of the basic equipment and tools to aid in fire fighting.

In August, 2022, one month after he took office, the Officer in Charge of the Mahdia Station dispatched an email to the Chief Fire Officer, requesting that urgent repairs be done to the fire truck, which was in poor of condition and unfit for use.

He had also complained about a shortage of trained fire officers and the station being ill-equipped.

Today, the Fire Chief Gregory Wickam told the Commission of Inquiry some of the challenges were addressed.

But his response did not sit well with the Chairman of the Commission of Inquiry (COI), retired Major General Joe Singh, who demanded more answers about the state of the Fire Station which was commissioned just four years ago.

“Breathing apparatus, sledge hammer, cutting tools, those, in my view, are fundamental to the role of the fire service in terms of fire prevention and rescue. So, why it is that four years elapsed, and these essential, fundamental items, were not provided,” the Chairman repeatedly asked Wickham.

“To that I might not be able to fully explain,” the Fire Chief said in his response, while maintaining that notwithstanding the severe shortage of resources, the Mahdia Fire Station was “sufficiently equipped” to respond to the deadly blaze.

“They were given enough, in the estimation of the administration then, fire-fighting pieces of equipment, so that they could do firefighting work. As it relates to the breathing apparatus, they were not issued any of those but that would not have prohibited them from doing firefighting in a major way,” the Fire Chief told the Commission.  

But the Chairman said aside from the breathing apparatus, the station still lacked basic equipment even after an inspection was done.

“If you take out the breathing apparatus, surely a sledge hammer, and cutting tools would have been considered essential. Why were they not there? And even after the inspection, even after the August letter of last year, and after the report of February, the inspection, yet these items were not provided,” Major General (Ret’d) further asked.

He further asked: “You were the Deputy Chief Fire Officer, you were also the regional commander, who do you hold responsible in your organization for the deficiencies that obviously compromised the ability of the persons, that you would deploy to that area to effectively deal with such items such as breaking into the building, cutting the grill and so on? Who in your establishment that you would hold accountable for those things?”

In response, the Fire Chief pointed to the Divisional Commander, who he said, is also responsible for operations. According to him, actions were taken against those who were responsible for the proper functioning of the Hinterland station. 

During Wickham’s more than one-hour-long testimony, the Commission was told that it was after the deadly fire in May that steps were taken to better equip the fire station.

A number of recruits are currently undergoing training, and a decision has already been made for some of them to be dispatched to the town.

Earlier this week, the Commission of Inquiry heard testimony about the Fire Service’s response and the challenges that firemen faced at the scene of the blaze.

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