by Nick Delgado

Guam - Joey San Nicolas has been named by the Calvo Administration as the new acting fire chief, the fifth candidate to take the hot seat since January. San Nicolas previously served as the agency's public information officer.

After accepting the appointment San Nicolas immediately requested a certificate of emergency procurement to expeditiously secure more ambulances. This has led to a request for proposal that will be advertised beginning tomorrow to purchase four new ambulances from the $500,000 from the U.S. Department of the Interior.

And while there may be a new leader, there's plenty of criticism over the ambulance shortage that has reached such a critical point.

"It's sad that it had to end like this or this had to occur for this issue to resurface," said Senator Adolpho Palacios. The public safety oversight chairman referenced last week's tragedy involving the death of a newborn boy. The baby and his 17-year-old mother waited two hours before a medic finally arrived in Merizo. Palacios blames GFD leadership for the ambulance shortage, saying, "They could have done more, they have not done what they could have done, this is what I would like to see happen, the leadership at the fire department should actually stay on top of this assign one person…some members of the fire department said I didn't know what I'm talking about that I think of it very simplistically. I don't think so."

Firefighters like Captain Ray Garrido take exception to Senator Palacios' statement, saying the problem with the medics didn't occur over night. "Senator Palacios needs to realize we in the fire department want to do our job to the best of our ability, but as chairman for safety he should provide the resources through budgeting to help us out," the captain stated. "Every year we get a budget cut by $2 million or $3 million, whatever it may be, and to maintain a department that deals with life safety, you are hampering and jeopardizing the safety of the people."

And Senator Dennis Rodriguez, Jr. added, "We can't put blame on the GFD personnel that responded - they are doing the very best and I commend them, it's the resources that this government fails to deliver." As chairman of the Legislative Committee on Health, the freshman policymaker has requested Adelup to declare a state of emergency so that the procurement process can be expedited to use the $500,000 in DOI funds to purchase new units and a couple engines.

In the interim, he also recommends entering into a memorandum of agreement to lease private ambulances, which GFD has said would be too expensive. Senator Rodriguez said, "I don't think we could put a price tag on saving one life."

In the meantime, another lawmaker has introduced legislation to expand the pool of qualified fire chief candidates the governor may consider to appoint a permanent chief. Vice Speaker B.J. Cruz is the author of Bill 314, would add the qualifying category for a candidate to have a master's degree in fire science or public administration or five-plus years in a closely related field of fire control and prevention.