Jamaica Fire Brigade reports increase in emergency calls in 2025

The Jamaica Fire Brigade (JFB) has reported an increase in the number of emergency calls received in 2025.

“We would have responded to well over 20,000 emergency incidents. 21,699 to be exact and this is a 13.7 per cent increase over the previous year,” Commissioner Stewart Beckford said, during an interview with JIS News.

He noted that the increase was driven mainly by a rise in bushfires and special service responses, which include non-fire emergencies such as flooding and rescue operations.

Beckford pointed out that the increase in special services call is linked to the passage of Hurricane Melissa which affected the island on October 28.

He further informed that of the total number of emergency calls responded to in 2025, 11,048 were genuine fire calls while 1,787 were malicious false alarms.

Beckford said that for genuine calls, “there was a 13 per cent increase over the previous year, where we had 9,775”.

Of the total number of genuine calls, 1,555 were structural fires, 5,710 were bush fires, 457 were motor vehicle fires, 2,340 were fires related to rubbish/dump, 805 were related to electrical equipment, farm/cultivated land accounted for 168, while another 13 were categorised as others.

Follow The Gleaner on X, formerly Twitter, and Instagram @JamaicaGleaner and on Facebook @GleanerJamaica. Send us a message on WhatsApp at 1-876-499-0169 or email us at onlinefeedback@gleanerjm.com or editors@gleanerjm.com.