FALMOUTH, Trelawny

The long-awaited $100-million, state-of-the-art Falmouth Fire Station was officially opened on Monday to a rowdy crowd that booed Robert Montaque, minister of state in charge of local government and cheered Opposition Leader Portia Simpson Miller.

But Montague didn’t allow the heckles, which undermined the first five minutes of his keynote speech, to faze him.

“When one government has laid a foundation then the other must build on top of it,” Montague told the rowdy crowd which urged him to “tek weh” himself and kept up a constant flow of heckling, which didn’t subside until he complimented the females in the gathering towards the tail end of his introduction.

Later he told the Observer West that the chilly reception was a testimony to the health of the country’s democracy. “If I never got this (reception), I would be disappointed,” he added. “The energies and the enthusiasm that is shown, it shows that democracy in Jamaica is alive and well.”

Promising that the station located at 7 Lower Parade Street in the historic town will be replicated across the island, Montague called on the residents – a large number of whom kept chanting ‘Portia! Portia!’ and booing at every mention of the JLP representatives – to take care of the facility, which he said was the most modern in the Caribbean.

Montague also launched the parish’s first Emergency Medical Service (EMS) and announced that his ministry had released $1 million for the work to be done on the facility earmarked at Twickenham Park for the fire department’s training base.

“We have released funds to the fire service to begin to clean the site and complete the fencing so that the next batch of trainees ought to be trained at the training facility in Twickenham Park.

Simpson Miller, told the crowd which vociferously bellowed its approval and love for her that she hoped the new administration would indeed build on the foundation set by her government and praised the firefighters whom she said had worked under trying circumstances and in less than appropriate accommodations for decades.

Errol Mowatt, deputy commissioner of the island’s fire department, said the station, an impressive structure, cost some $100 million to build and would offer accommodation for upwards of 50 firefighters at any one time. He said it would also provide office accommodations for each officer.

The fully air-conditioned station boasts a gym, spacious dining and living areas.