The Prime Minister summarizes the key issues facing the Saint Lucia Fire Service based on a Commission of Inquiry report. The report found evidence of unequal treatment, lack of transparency in promotions, and a breakdown in discipline. To resolve the longstanding problems, the Chief Fire Officer will be seconded to a new role and external experts from the UK and Caribbean will conduct an independent review to modernize structures, policies, and operations of the Fire Service. The goal is to heal divisions and ensure fair treatment of all officers.

1. WE MUST HEAL AND MODERNIZE
THE FIRE SERVICE
STATEMENT BY
THE HON. DR. KENNY D. ANTHONY,
PRIME MINISTER AND MINISTER FOR FINANCE,
ECONOMIC AFFAIRS, PLANNING AND SOCIAL
SECURITY
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2014

2. INTRODUCTION
Fellow Saint Lucians, Citizens, Ladies and Gentlemen!
Good evening to one and all!
Over the past few days, we have all experienced another
round of industrial action by some members of the Fire
Service Association. This is the third time since this
Government has been elected to office that the Fire Service
Association has embarked on industrial action.
As it is well known, the Fire Service is entrusted with the
responsibility to respond to fires in our homes, business
places, offices, factories and communities, transport the
sick and injured to our hospitals, rescue persons in
distress and crucially, provide trained personnel to man

3. our airports to respond to aircrafts in emergency. Without
fire service personnel at our airports, aircraft will neither
land nor take-off. Given our near absolute dependence on
tourism, arrival and departure of our guests, any
withdrawal of labour by fire service personnel would do
untold damage to our economy.
It is a tragedy that despite our current economic
challenges, some would choose to add to our collective
distress.
PAUSE FOR CONCERN

4. I believe that all will agree that the Fire Service is an
absolutely essential service.
Recent events should, however, give all of us reason for
concern. In my years as a trade unionist, I have always
known that no matter what the problem may be with a
Government or a private sector employer, efforts would
be made to protect the interests of the vulnerable members
of the public, especially when they are confronted with
emergencies over which they have no control. Over the
last few days, citizens who needed ambulance services
were left stranded as some fire officers refused to take or
handle emergency calls. Even in the midst of conflict or
disagreement, we should never lose respect for human

5. life. We have a responsibility to take care of the helpless in
our midst.
I want to thank however, all those officers who opted to
remain at work, particularly those officers who kept our
airports open and allowed the uninterrupted movements
of aircraft to and from Saint Lucia. I thank all of you,
immeasurably. Many of you chose to put the welfare of
your country first, and that was commendable!
THE CURRENT IMPASSE
The current impasse has its genesis in major
disagreements between the Fire Service Association and

6. the leadership of the Fire Service. It has been said that the
disagreements have been in existence for several years,
some say for the past six years. Indeed the sole
Commissioner of the Commission of Enquiry into “The
Conduct and Management of the Saint Lucia Fire Service
and the Laws Relating Thereto” dates the issues as
commencing “at least since 2009.”[Page 41, Report]
It is simply erroneous, unfair and unjustified to suggest
that this Government did nothing about the complaints of
the Fire Service Association or the Report of the
Commission of Enquiry. Indeed, it was this Government
that persuaded the Fire Service Association to agree to the
setting up of a Commission of Inquiry to investigate the

7. complaints and the issues bedevilling the Fire Service.
Some of the recommendations within the purview of the
Government have already been acted upon.
I will itemize the principal findings of the Commissioner,
Dr. Francis Alexis, so that you would have a better
understanding of the approaches of the Government to
this vexed matter.
FINDINGS OF THE COMMISSIONER
The Commissioner found evidence of “unequal
treatment” being meted out by the management of the
Fire Service particularly in matters of promotion, “training
and allowances; as well as in administering or

8. recommending the administration of, disciplinary action.”
[Page 23, Para.15.02, Report]. He noted that Fire Officers
“complained that promotions were not in accordance with
equal treatment and equal opportunity.”[Para 17.01, page
24, Report]. The Commissioner found evidence of
insensitivity. He wrote, “The display of insensitivity by
some members of the [Fire Service] management towards
their subordinates is sometimes amazing.” Para 23.01,
page 35, Report]. He found evidence that issues were
personalized and as he put it “Apparent inconsistences
consistently bedevilled Fontenelle”, the Chief Fire Officer
[Para 24.16, Page 38, Report], wryly commenting that the
“Chief Fire Officer seems to administer different strokes
for different folks”. [Para. 24.21, Page 39, Report]There

9. were other complaints and allegations which were
itemized by the Commissioner but did not attract
definitive findings or conclusions.
Early in his report, the Commissioner reported that “The
cumulative effect of such factors has been the plunging of
the Saint Lucia Fire Service into a situation whose
manifestations included disrespect or disregard by
subordinates for superiors, indiscipline, sick-outs,
industrial unrest. Morale among junior and middle ranks,
he said, sank to “its lowest ever”, at “an all- time
low.”[Para 15.03, Page 23, Report]
THE RECOMMENDATIONS

10. The recommendations of the Commissioner were few and
far between. He made only two recommendations on
personnel matters. Curiously, he did not recommend the
removal or the disciplining of the Chief Fire Officer.
Instead, he recommended that “Mr. Leslie Fontenelle
should immediately, be put on contract as Chief Fire
Officer of the St Lucia Fire Service; as was agreed to by
him at the Commission.” This, he said, “will afford time to
Mr. Fontenelle and his subordinates to adjust to the new
dispensation which will come out of the Commission, as
shown by the Saint Lucia Fire Service Management and
the Fire Service Association reaching that agreement
during the last sitting of the Commission.”[Para 26.07,
Page 42, Report].

11. He also recommended that “ Mr. Ditney Downes,
Divisional Officer, Officer-in- Charge ’C’ or Southern
Division should immediately be transferred from that
Division to Fire Service Headquarters. This will afford
time to Mr. Downes and his colleagues at “C” or ‘Southern
Division’ time to adjust to the new dispensation…” Mr.
Downes has accordingly been transferred.
The other recommendations dealt with miscellaneous
amendments to the Fire Service Act, Cap. 14.04, Revised
Laws of Saint Lucia. Work has begun on these
recommendations.

12. I wish to reiterate that contrary to what has been said, the
Commissioner never recommended the dismissal or
the removal of the Chief Fire officer or that disciplinary
action be launched against him. It may well have been that
he was preoccupied in healing the deep wounds in the
Fire Service or that he felt that the matter of the removal of
Mr. Fontenelle properly fell to the jurisdiction of the
Public Service Commission to be determined by the
totality of the evidence available to the Commission from
the enquiry.
The recommendation of the Commissioner that Mr.
Fontenelle “be put on contract” is not free of difficulty. It
would be unlawful, in fact, unconstitutional for the

13. Government to legislate a change to the terms and
conditions of employment of Mr. Fontenelle unilaterally
and put him, compulsorily, on contract. The
Commissioner may well have understood this when he
recommended that this be done by consent, by the explicit
agreement of Mr. Fontenelle.
In the event, Mr. Fontenelle has disputed that there was
agreement that he would proceed on contract. But if as it
has been suggested, that Mr. Fontenelle is the principal
cause of the problems in the Fire Service, then putting him
on contract for two years would not resolve the burning
issues of the Fire Service.

14. It’s clear too that given the Disciplinary Procedures of the
Public Service Commission, proceedings against Mr.
Fontenelle would only prolong a final resolution.
TOWARDS A RESOLUTION
In the circumstances, a different approach has had to be
fashioned.
Mr. Fontenelle has now agreed that he would be seconded
to the Saint Lucia Airport and Seaports Authority
[SLASPA] to be its Aircraft Rescue and Fire Fighting
Advisor. In this role, he will ensure that all of the
protocols attendant to an efficient fire service at the
airports and seaports are applied at all times. Mr

15. Fontenelle will assume his new duties at SLASPA on the
completion of his current period of leave earned in the
Fire Service.
Secondly, it should be clear that there are deep fissures in
the Saint Lucia Fire Service. Discipline has virtually
broken down. As stated earlier, the Commissioner pointed
out several instances of this by both subordinates and
senior officers. Transparent procedures need to be put in
place to govern promotions so that all officers could feel
that they are treated fairly, equally and without
discrimination. New rules need to be enacted to ensure
that there is full respect for the women officers by both
senior and junior officers in the Fire Service.

16. We need to bring an end to the lawlessness that prevails in
the Fire Service. The management of the Fire Service as
well as the Fire Service Association only seem to invoke or
apply the prevailing laws and rules of the Fire Service
when it appears to be convenient to do so. But in fairness,
some of the regulations governing the Fire Association are
outdated. For example, the regulations governing the
business of the Fire Service Association require the Chief
Fire Officer to preside over elections of the executive of the
Fire Service Association. Such a rule invites conflict and
disagreement as has happened over the past few days.

17. These things should not be happening in this day and age.
It is clear that the Report of the Commission of Inquiry did
not address these issues, perhaps because they did not fall
with sufficient clarity within the remit of the Commission.
The truth is that the Fire Service, constructed prior to
our independence, badly needs to be healed and
modernized.
For that reason, I have sought technical assistance from
the British Government to assist in modernizing the Fire
Service. The British Government has in principle, agreed
to a request from the Government of Saint Lucia to
provide a small team of experts, which will work

18. alongside a representative from a Caribbean Fire Service,
to conduct a review of the structure, operations,
promotions policy and overall organization of the Saint
Lucia Fire Service. We need independent external help
because the parties to the impasse do not trust each other
to resolve their differences amicably, in the interest of the
Fire Service and the country.
The British Government, whose own Fire Services have
undergone much modernization in the last few decades,
will work with the Government of Saint Lucia over the
coming weeks to agree on terms of reference for the
review and the logistical details.

19. I trust that these decisions will go some way to bring
peace and understanding among all.
I bid one and all a good evening and the blessings of Our
Lord and Saviour.