 Minister for the Public Service, Home Affairs, Labor and Gender Affairs Hon. Dr. Virginia Albert-Poyutt has assured a boost in the staff complement of the St. Lucia Fire Service. The assurance came as the minister taught the fire service headquarters on Manual Street in Castries. Hon. Dr. Virginia Albert-Poyutt says while the headquarters is spacious, the facility is in dire need of an upgrade. Moreover, the service is shorthanded. Right now they have a shortage of 40 members of staff which is huge for fire service that would have a staffing of 351 personnel. And the prime minister has made a commitment that he will address that. So they have completed the exercise, the recruiting exercise and that has been submitted to the Public Service Commission and the Public Service. So that will be placed high on priority to respond to this. And he did mention the issue of the fire station and we are going to begin to explore identifying a suitable location and trying to source the funding so that we can provide the officers with a very decent work environment. We also will try to see how we can source funding with other partners to give them the support and I understood that we already have some new furniture on ground and we should be able to replace some of the desks and chairs at the fire department. The Home Affairs Minister is due to visit the outstations in the coming weeks. Hon. Albert Poyert is also scheduled to meet with the Fire Service Welfare Association.