THE Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) has renewed calls for the return of the 33 Rosenbauer fire trucks that government bought last year amidst fresh reports of faulty parts.

"We want a phased return of the trucks and we want them to end the contract with Rosenbauer and find another supplier," Shahine Robinson, the Opposition spokesperson for local government, said Thursday.

This fire truck at the Half-Way-Tree station was reversed to reveal a pool of water that leaked from its tank within a five-minute time frame. According to the firefighters, the truck has been leaking for the past three months and they have to keep a garden hose attached to keep the water in the tank at the desired level. (Photos: Bryan Cummings)

Thursday's call came amidst reports of a severely leaking tank on a truck in Manchester. According to Robinson, the fact that problems have resurfaced only a few months after the detailed inspection involved in the modification of the units was cause for concern.
The party made similar calls in March when reports first surfaced that several of the units had loose or missing clamps and bolts, resulting in the separation of at least one truck from its chassis. The solution adopted then was a modification and retrofitting of the trucks.

But yesterday, newly installed fire chief Laurie Williams said it was impractical and illogical to return an entire fleet of trucks.
"I don't see it happening," he told the Observer.
According to Williams, there were 12 reported cases of leaking trucks initially but the "critical ones" have already been "addressed". He said nine tanks were left to be replaced.

"We are being proactive and provisions are being made so that we'll be getting tanks for all [33] trucks. Not all of them will develop problems but we have to ensure that if there are any eventualities we have additional tanks," he explained.

The new tanks, according to Williams, will be made of thicker, reinforced material to minimise possible damage. All 33 tanks are being replaced at the expense of the manufacturer since they were under a lifetime warranty.

Rosenbauer was forced to modify the fire units in April following recommendations that the company increase the number of bolts holding the body of the remaining 23 pumpers to their chassis.
The issue of faults among the new fleet was thrown in the public sphere in March when the chassis, body and water tank of a unit assigned to the Santa Cruz Fire Station separated while the truck was on its way from a rescue mission in Balaclava, St Elizabeth, causing minor injuries to the six firefighters who were aboard.

But Thursday, an Observer source close to the Jamaica Fire Brigade expressed scepticism about the retrofitting process which was carried out by the local representatives of Rosenbauer America, National Safety Limited.

"To me nothing happened. Nothing much has changed. How can you retrofit 33 trucks in a week? You'd need three months to retrofit all 33," he told the Observer.

"They (the trucks) were a waste of money. When you look at the state of the units, the older ones are in much better condition. They (new ones) just look pretty on the outside," he added, suggesting that the life span of the units should be reduced to 20 months. During a tour of three fire stations in Kingston and St Andrew on Thursday, three leaking trucks were spotted - two of which were new trucks acquired from Rosenbauer last year.

At the Half-Way-Tree Fire Station, the leak from unit 5-72 was so bad that the firefighters had to keep a garden hose running into the truck's tank to ensure the water level remained constant. District Officer Nigel Cox said the truck, the sole unit assigned to the station, had been leaking for about three months.
The leak in the unit at Trench Town was not as severe as that in Half-Way-Tree, but firefighters there expressed concerns about the subsequent reduction in the original water capacity of 1,500 gallons.

Apart from the issue of leaking tanks, the firemen complained that despite last week's announcement by former fire chief Frederick Whyte that equipment and protective gear would soon be issued, they were still largely without some critical tools.

"We have officers here for almost one year now who still have not been issued with protective clothing," a senior officer at the Half-Way-Tree station told the Observer.

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