PRIME Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar said the commissioning of a fleet of six fire vehicles would service communities long left vulnerable.

And she added that the introduction of five fire tenders and a heavy rescue vehicle, valued at $69 million, would correct a failure in the nation’s firefighting response that should not have persisted.

She was speaking on Wednesday during a handover ceremony for the six vehicles at the Penal Fire Station. Persad-Bissessar said “real protection” would be delivered to communities such as Penal, Barrackpore, Debe, Siparia, Princes Town, Rio Claro, Mayaro and Point Fortin, which she said had been neglected and denied adequate resources. The vehicles, she said, would be stationed at Princes Town, Mayaro, Point Fortin, Penal and Tobago, with the heavy rescue vehicle deployed at the Chaguanas fire station, where it would assist the Trinidad and Tobago Fire Service (TTFS) in its response to road traffic accidents (RTAs).