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St. Maarten and Dordrecht sign Fire Departments twinning pact
by The Daily Herald
Posted: Nov 6, 2009 13:27 UTC
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DORDRECHT - The Fire Departments of St. Maarten and the Dutch city of Dordrecht signed a twinning agreement Wednesday. Exchanges of information, knowledge and skills are the most important aspects of this cooperation.
“It is a unique day,” said Lt. Governor Franklyn Richards, who signed the agreement on behalf of the Island Territory of St. Maarten.
“We are home,” said St. Maarten Fire Chief Winston Salomon at the signing ceremony at the Dordrecht Fire Department.
St. Maarten had initially strived for a twinning relationship with Dordrecht a few years ago, but because Dordrecht was in the middle of a big reorganisation, and because Saba and St. Eustatius already worked with the Fire Department of The Hague, it was decided to join the cooperation agreement with that Fire Department. St. Maarten went back to its original plan to work with Dordrecht after The Hague became the official twinning partner of Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba (BES islands).
The cooperation agreement first with The Hague and now with Dordrecht stems from the project to improve the Fire Departments and Safety in the Netherlands Antilles. The policy plan from that project has been executed, said Salomon. The St. Maarten Fire Department has come a long way since the start of the implementation of the improvement plan, some 10 years ago. Many improvements have been realised with the assistance of local government. And the future looks even better, he added.
The Fire Departments of Dordrecht and St. Maarten will assist each other with educational material, drafting plans, information on new techniques , new structures of disaster management, exchanging knowledge and giving trainings. Two members of the Dordrecht Fire Department are currently in St. Maarten for training purposes.
The cooperation won’t be a one-way thing focusing on what the Dutch twinning partner can give, however, explained Dordrecht Fire Chief Anton Slofstra. “We can also learn from St. Maarten. St. Maarten has a complex care area. There is no municipality in the Netherlands on the scale of St. Maarten with so many responsibilities, with a harbour [and] an airport,” he said.
When you have so many responsibilities, it is a challenge to make the right choices, said Slofstra, who worked in St. Maarten as technical assistant in 1998. “You can’t do everything, so you have to set priorities. It is important to realise as much as possible with what you have,” he said.
With St. Maarten becoming a country in October 2010, the performance of the Fire Department has to improve even more. “The people deserve that,” said Salomon. Slofstra added it was important to keep developing, which always would present more of a challenge on a small island. Salomon said he was proud of his organisation. “People have their hearts in the right place, and that is what we need to prepare for country status.”
Dordrecht Mayor Ronald Bandell said becoming a country meant hard work, especially because of the time factor. “The date 10-10-10 is easy to say, but it means more responsibilities for Police, the Fire Department [and] Disaster Management.” He said that everyone hoped the constitutional reform would ultimately lead to a better living standard for the people. Twinning relations can contribute to that.
“Twinning is the result of knowing and being known. The islands are small, but so is the Netherlands. We can do things together – exchange knowledge and experience – not because we are big and St. Maarten is small. It would be wrong for us to determine and decide. We can learn from each other and show that it can also be nice in the Dutch Kingdom,” he said.
Commissioner William Marlin said he was happy the St. Maarten and Dordrecht Fire Departments would be cooperating. “Cooperation leads to improvement and an even more professional St. Maarten Fire Department,” he said.
Wednesday’s signing ceremony coincided with the annual meeting of the Fire Chiefs of the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba with their Dutch twinning partners. Present at the week-long programme, chaired this year by St. Maarten, were the fire chiefs of the different islands.
Besides Salomon of St. Maarten, there were: Statia Fire Chief André Bennett, Saba Fire Chief Julio Every, Curaçao Fire Chief Elvin Regina, Deputy Aruba Fire Chief Edward de Cuba and Bonaire Fire Department Head of Repression Kenneth de Palm. Also present was St. Maarten Fire Department Head of Disaster Management Paul Martens.
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