Clive Brown honoured for community service
… recognised for Irwin drain-cleaning that helped 2023 rescue of children from drowning
Published:Tuesday | August 12, 2025 | 12:13 AMChristopher Thomas/Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
St James businessman Clive Anthony Brown never expected any reward for simply cleaning a gutter in his community, yet that humble act resulted in two children’s lives being saved in 2023, earning him recognition on Independence Day.
Brown, 52, who operates Fisher Trucking and Hardware in his Tucker, Irwin, St James home community, was among the nine people awarded for their contributions to St James’ development across different fields during the 2025 Independence Flag-Raising and Civic Ceremony in Montego Bay.
“I am feeling great. I feel good for the things that I do in the community, and for the fact that I got an award for it. I will continue to do good same way,” Brown, who was awarded for community service, told The Gleaner.
“When I heard that I was getting awarded, I felt great, and a whole lot of good things were going through my mind because of the work that I put out. Everybody who is in the community knows Clive, according to how Clive works in the community,” he added.
Brown’s award came less than two years after Kenroy Wright, Desrick Myers, and Marcel Binns – all residents of Tucker – were honoured for their proactive part in saving the two children from being swept away by floodwaters on June 6, 2023. Wright, Myers, and Binns were all awarded for their gallantry during that year’s staging of St James’ annual National Heroes Day Civic and Awards Ceremony.
On the afternoon of June 6, 2023, the two children were swept into a gully while trying to cross a flooded roadway in Tucker, Irwin. The three men, who were in the vicinity at the time, immediately jumped into action to save them.
REGULAR HABIT SAVED LIVES
Their rescue efforts might not have turned out so successfully had it not been for Brown’s regular habit of cleaning the gully, which he did the day before the mishap.
“I cleaned the gutter the day before it happened. I used the backhoe and cleaned the gutter. The next day, the rain came down and the little pickney dem did a come from school, but they accidentally stepped off into the water because, the way the water come down, you cannot see any road,” said Brown. “One of the mothers came and found me afterwards, because the people told them that it was ‘Mr Fisher’ who cleaned the gutter, and if I never cleaned the gutter, they could not go in the water.
“If the gutter was never cleared, the kids could not wash through the canal, because it would have been blocked off. They went through the canal, and a whole heap of men were out there, and they stopped and helped take the kids out of the water,” continued Brown. “Part of the gutter runs on my property, and I do not wait on the Government to send anybody to come clean it. I always watch it and then use my backhoe to clear it, because when the rain comes down and it is blocked, no vehicle can pass.”
In addition to that act of drain-cleaning which contributed to the children’s rescue, Brown was also recognised on August 6 this year as a philanthropist who contributes to community events in Tucker, Irwin, as well as outreach work for young people and the less fortunate in the area.