Reporter
carisa.lee@cnc3.co.tt
Newly elected president of the Fire Service Association of T&T Second Division Keone Guy says his team is focusing on meeting the holistic needs of fire officers.
“We believe that fire officers have a number of challenges we know the economic conscience that exist,” said Guy, fire officer with 18 years experience, who replaces Leo Ramkissoon at the helm of the association.
He said one of the major issues he wants to address is National Insurance Retirement benefit for officers. He said fire officers have to wait for five years after they retire before they can get those benefits.
Under the Fire Service Act, a fire officer in the Second Division retires at age 55 but can, with the approval of the Public Service Commission, retire at age 50.
“There are number of officers who have retired and are finding it extremely difficult right now to service their mortgages all while there is benefit that they contributed to,” he said.
He said he has heard this concern raised by acting and retired for officers.
Other measures Guy hopes to address include health plans, terms and conditions for auxiliaries, construction of a recreation centre, free travel on the Public Transport Service Corporation (PTSC), injury benefits for cancer, heart diseases, strokes and transparent housing allotments.
For the year so far 13 people have died in fires, a situation former president Leo Ramkissoon blamed on lack of equipment in the Fire Service. Ramkissoon did not respond to calls for comment yesterday.
However, Guy said he wants to ensure that Ramkissoon is properly recognised for all he has done for Second Division officers.
“He played a critical role in guiding the FFSA 2 to where it is presently and we would like to thank him for his leadership over that time,” he said.
Ramkissoon served the organisation well for 12 years. He said his team hopes to address long standing issues affecting fire officers and bring greater dialogue and more transparency to the organisation.