Honiara : 23 January 2017
Letter to the Editor, Solomon Star and Island Sun Newspapers.
I extend my thanks to the Australian Government and RAMSI for the new, multi-million dollar Honiara Fire Station.
The old facility in the Rove complex was already in a very poor state when I took charge of the RSIPF in 1997 and I subsequently gave your readership a written account of the terrible state of the fire station building and other police facilities I found on my arrival.
I can confirm at that time Chief Superintendent Timothy Papangu struggled to maintain services working from a derelict office.
What was not acknowledged in your article in your account of the new fire station, however, was the assistance of the government of Japan in those early years in supplying the police service with a fire tender and other fire fighting equipment and I take the opportunity of doing so in this letter.
The RSIPF has an important duty to perform in terms of fire services and emergency responses at the Honiara International Airport and no mention was made in the media release of the new fire station regarding existing fire service facilities at the airport.
Perhaps, some additional information might be contributed by the Police Commissioner to clarify the situation as, in the early years I have written about, I was equally concerned about the run down fire service facility and the capabilities of fire service personnel at Henderson.
