Fire brigade chief Beckford accepts national honour with humility

Stewart Beckford mounted the dais alone at King’s House on Monday to be vested with the Order of Distinction in the rank of Commander (CD). But the long-serving firefighter was quick to point out that credit for the national honour must go to his team and his family. “What has happened here today could not have happened without the help of some tremendous folks who have served with me, some as long as 36 years,” Beckford, the Jamaica Fire Brigade (JFB) commissioner, told the Jamaica Observer shortly after accepting the award. “The gentleman standing here beside me, Superintendent Lyon, he joined in 1990 like myself and he has been a tremendous support, along with our senior officers,” added Beckford, flanked by happy family and colleagues. “The support staff, and by those I mean civilian staff, administrative staff who work behind the scenes, sometimes they’re not seen because of the work that they do, but their effort, as well, has contributed to the tremendous effort, gains that we have made as a fire brigade over the last 10 to 15 years. And so again, this award is really dedicated to them and their efforts. But it would be remiss of me not to mention the fact that I have been standing on the shoulders of some giants who have paved the way,” said Beckford, who was one of 25 people vested with the CD. He told the Observer that he felt honoured to know that his hard work fighting fires, and even dodging bullets at times, has not gone unrecognised. Beckford is the first fire brigade commissioner to be conferred with an OD while still alive and serving. The commissioner shared that he believes that firefighting chose him because as a young man he had his eyes set on becoming a cop. “I never set out to be a firefighter. It was never something in my thoughts in terms of a career path. I was more probably thinking about being a police officer. But in 1990 a cousin of mine, who eventually joined the police force, we both went to York Park to do the brigade test. And, of course, I was successful and was called. There were some family members who thought maybe I should not take it on because of the risk associated with it and so on, but I went ahead nonetheless, not knowing what to expect,” Beckford told the Observer. “I went to training school, which was a very difficult time. I could have given up at that time because the training was rigorous, very demanding. We were very restricted in terms of movements. You were no longer in control of you, but the instructors at the training school were. They were the persons who were in charge,” he explained. “That made it a little bit challenging at first, but quickly we adjusted and by we I mean the entire cohort of more than 90 recruits who turned up at the training school at that time. We made it through to the end after a rigorous three-month training and we graduated. I was first placed at Stony Hill after my initial orientation at the York Park Fire Station where I spent about four years, and those were the formative years,” Beckford shared. “That’s where I learned the job, really, under the wings of some stalwarts, some tremendous firefighters and leaders who imparted really good knowledge and skill sets that I could have used over the years to be successful,” he related.

Governor General Sir Patrick Allen (left) invests Jamaica Fire Brigade Commissioner Stewart Beckford with the Order of Distinction in the rank of Commander (CD) at King’s House on Monday. (Photo: Garfield Robinson)

“Following my stationing at Stony Hill, I was transferred to Trench Town and in 1995 I was promoted to a sergeant. It was my first promotion, which was something I never heard of in the fire brigade over many years. From then I kept moving up. They saw leadership qualities in me. Former Commissioner Frederick White, who passed last year, he had an eye for identifying talent,” Beckford said, explaining that White was among the people who played a pivotal role in his development. He said that White exposed him to different kinds of training in numerous areas within the JFB because White “saw something in me that I did not recognise in myself”. “Even when he was saying to me, ‘you’re going to be commissioner one day, I was saying to him, ‘No sir, that’s not my ambition’,” Beckford related. “Look at me now. I’m happy that he lived to see me ascend to the office and, of course, he was presented with an OD a few years before he passed. I am really happy that he believed in me and encouraged me along the way. There are others as well,” he said. “There is former Commissioner Williams. He’s my mentor. He is still around and, of course, he provided tremendous guidance throughout the many years I worked with him as a staff officer. He also saw in me the material that could make me a commissioner one day. So for them, for me, I want to thank them for their support and I couldn’t have done it without family — my son, my wife, my mom and sister, they have all been supporting me,” Beckford shared. He also said that throughout his career, there have been many ups and downs and times when he got the emergency calls late at night and had to rush out. “I’ve made many sacrifices. I’ve missed many Christmas dinners, birthdays, sometimes even anniversaries because you have to be out there on the ground fighting fires or responding to some type of emergency. And so, it has been a long journey with lots of sacrifices. That is what the people of Jamaica and the Government of Jamaica have recognised and have decided to award me. This prestigious award, as I said earlier, was never something that I thought about, never something that I aspired to, but I’m one who believes in doing my best and work and let your work speak for itself,” he said. “As firefighters, sometimes we are exposed to immense danger. I have been shot at; I can recall working at Trench Town and Trench Town, as you know, is one of those inner-city communities that is very rough. Back in the day when I was there, there was a lot of violence around. It’s not like now when it’s relatively quiet; we’re talking about in the 1990s and early 2000s. I was sergeant and then promoted to district officer. I was leading a crew there. I recall one night we got a call for fire; I think it’s somewhere in the Regent Street area. When we entered, we recognised that something was amiss. We heard loud explosions, which we summarised were gunshots. There was a building on fire and so we came out of the truck and flicked our hose and got into operation. Before we could put the water on the fire, it was just a barrage of gunshots towards the truck. And there were bullet holes in the truck, so we had to make a hasty retreat. They were using the fire as a means of violence. They were burning up people who they had disputes with, and so on,” the commissioner shared. Beckford’s eight-year-old son, Zacheem, said that he was very proud of his dad and although he’s elated by his firefighting achievements, he wants to be a footballer. He told the Observer that when his father has to go out on duty, he gets worried sometimes and when he comes home safely, he always breathes a sigh of relief.