ROSENBAUER America has begun modification of the fire trucks it supplied to government last September, local representative National Safety Limited has confirmed.

On Thursday, Angie Templer – part-owner of the local company – told the Observer that the modification of a sample truck was under way and would be available for inspection by a team from the Island Traffic Authority (ITA). The modification of the other trucks will follow satisfactory inspection from the ITA, she said.

The modifications follow recommendations issued by government that the company should increase the number of bolts holding the body of the remaining 23 pumpers to their chassis.

In a statement issued on Wednesday, the Ministry of Local Government and Environment requested that the trucks be modified to better suit Jamaica’s terrain. At present, each truck is outfitted with four bolts holding it to the chassis.

However, the government thinks eight – as was the case with the older trucks procured in 1994 – would be more suitable.

The recommendation comes after a pumper assigned to the Santa Cruz fire station broke loose last month, separating the body of the truck from its frame. The incident injured the six firefighters on board and raised questions as to the quality of the trucks.

A later report jointly published by the Ministry of Housing, Water, Transport and Works and the brigade’s Transport and Fleet Management section suggested that manufacturing faults were the cause of the accident. But Rosenbauer claimed a previous collision between the truck and a rock was at the root of the problem.

“We know that there was an accident [collision with rock] and that the road was wet and that the road went downhill, so these are conditions which have to be borne in mind,” Templer said, explaining that the incident was caused by the nature and extent of the collision and not manufacturing faults.

But in the brigade’s report, Assistant Superintendent Warren Malcom noted: “Metal clamps and brackets that secured the body by means of the sub-frame to the chassis were not enough”.

Templer, however, countered their argument saying, that the American company built exactly what the Jamaican government requested.

“Rosenbauer built to conform to all the specifications established by the tender. (Our) position is that it did not fall short of the technical specifications,” she told the Observer.

“The technical specifications did not specify eight bolts and the standard way to do it was what Rosenbauer did,” she added, noting that the company built the units according to standards set by US agencies.

The report tabled by the fire brigade cited several examples of the new trucks having missing or loose clamps and bolts. Public relations officer at the brigade, Emeleo Ebanks, disclosed that firefighters had been experiencing problems with the new fleet from as early as September last year, one month after they were procured.

“There were definitely problems on that part [manufacturing],” he maintained. “We developed the specifications at the Brigade along with the team from the (water and housing) ministry but there are certain specifications that we took for granted.

“We just never imagined that these people, being engineers and being so experienced, could make these fatal mistakes,” he said alluding to the “missing bolts and clamps” referenced in the Brigade’s report.

On Wednesday, Ebanks maintained that the brigade hardly had an option in the choice of supplier: “If we had a decision we would not have gone with Rosenbauer. If it were left up to us, we would have gone with Renault.”

He said the government’s procurement process was what “forced” them to accept Rosenbauer’s proposal based on the proximity between America and Jamaica and the sourcing of spare parts.

When they were bought last year, each of the Rosenbauer America trucks and their accompanying spare parts cost the government US$260,000.