Committee continues Salas' confirmation

by Nick Delgado

Guam - A continuation of Acting Fire Chief John Salas' confirmation hearing is what Senator Adolpho Palacios says he is holding this evening. At issue is the uniformed personnel working 8-hour shifts at the headquarters getting the same pay as the fire fighters out in the stations who do 24-hour shifts.

The fire chief, however, tells KUAM News that this issue is something he just fell into. He also admits he has made some adjustments by minimizing the number of uniformed personnel at the headquarters from 11 to 9. He says he is still working on reducing that number to get his firefighters back into the field.

Salas said that the hours the firefighters at HQ perform are justified saying they also assist with the lack of personnel in the field, adding, "Shortage of personnel on fire trucks are being augments by these personnel on administrative duties, we also have a van called a mass unit where some of these guys man on a 24-hour basis, 365 days a year and this particular van responds to any major disaster or any major fires within the island and they are equipped with things such as canopies and water and whatever other logistics that are required out there in the field. These guys would set up command post so that instant command system would be set within that particular command post area."

Salas says essentially he will be explaining the legality of the actions being taken at the headquarters.