Grand Cayman, 12 May 2022 – The Cayman Islands Fire Service (CIFS) recently delivered one of the new Oshkosh Striker aviation fire trucks to Cayman Brac Fire Station to provide fire and rescue aviation support at Charles Kirkconnell International Airport (CKIA). The delivery of the new truck to the Sister Islands joins the 1^stOshkosh Aviation Striker delivered last year as part of CIFS’s ongoing fleet modernisation plan to further build its international airport operations support and resilience across the service.

 Brac CIFS Station Manager Mr. Witney Tatum commented on the importance of the new truck to Cayman Brac: “the new truck and accompanying equipment, we now have two Aviation fire trucks which significantly improves our aviation operational support and efficiency for Charles Kirkconnell Airport (CKIA),”

District Commissioner for Cayman Brac & Little Cayman Mark Tibbetts said: “This new truck investment facilitates the Sister Islands airport operation to accommodate larger planes and, by extension, support having more visitors to our islands. We are very grateful for the investment in the new trucks. I thank my colleagues at the Ministry of Homes Affairs for their support in ensuring the Sister Islands achieved this goal.”

Speaking about the aviation capabilities of the new trucks, Deputy Chief Fire Officer (Aviation) Mr. Brevan Elliott explained: “Like on Grand Cayman, this new truck will equip the Sister Islands with state-of-the-art fire and rescue equipment and technology to provide a more efficient and effective rapid response service to airport operations. The industry standard is two minutes total to reach each end of the runway. This new truck will also improve operations and ensure our Sister Islands crew can provide the time-sensitive support required to ensure passenger and public safety in the event of a major incident.”

Designate Chief Fire Officer Mr. Dwight Randy Rankin added: “Our fleet modernisation plan will ensure CIFS officers are equipped and technically trained at an international industry level to utilise the equipment, technology, and provide the necessary level of professionalism across all three islands for over 10 years. This investment of a unified fleet of Oshkosh Strikers delivers a crucial component to further building on our existing infrastructure while building the resiliency of our emergency response support into the future and completes the replacement of all of our aviation fire trucks in Grand Cayman and Cayman Brac.”