While the new 911 telephone system is in place on St. John, emergency response agencies can’t yet talk to each other, St. John Fire Chief Winifred Powell told Rotary Club of St. John members at their weekly Friday meeting.

"Each agency has its own dispatcher, so it’s still a little confusing, but we’re trying to work out the kinks," Powell told the 15 Rotarians gathered at the Westin Resort and Villas Beach Café.

In the question-and-answer session that followed her presentation, Powell said electrical fires are the most common on St. John. She said people plug too many things into an outlet, which starts a fire.

"And make sure they’re not compressed by furniture or a chair," she said of electrical cords.

Powell spoke about a recent fire in which a screw went through an electrical wire that ran through the roof. When the roof wood dried out, the house caught fire.

Just finding homes is a problem for firefighters on St. John; many streets are not named and houses have no identification. Rotary club member John Fuller said firefighters often find it difficult to know what road to take to reach a certain house.

However, Powell said that newer fire trucks have Global Positioning System capability, but GPS mapping isn’t complete for St. John. Meanwhile, firefighters go out every week on familiarization trips around neighborhoods.

Powell also suggested that neighborhood associations give the V.I. Fire Service maps that identify houses.

In response to another question, Powell said the Fire Service can fight fires in buildings as high as three stories. She said that that capability needs to expand as St. John continues to grow.

"St. John is getting taller," she said.

St. John does not have a firefighting vessel, Powell said. She said she has put in requests in hopes that the Legislature will appropriate funds — but so far, no luck.

She said that with all the boats in the island’s harbors as well as commercial marine traffic such as ferries and barges, a fire vessel is needed. She said the Fire Service has 13 U.S. Coast Guard-licensed captains on its St. John staff, so finding someone to put at the helm won’t be a problem.

Of the 46 firefighters assigned to St. John’s fire stations in Cruz Bay and Coral Bay, Powell said six have Emergency Medical Technician status. In Coral Bay, those Fire Service EMTs are the first on the scene because they can get there quicker than EMTs from the Emergency Medical Service stationed in Cruz Bay.

Powell also noted that 25 of the 46 firefighters live on St. John.

The Rotary Club members opened their meeting with a silent prayer for the people of Haiti, which suffered massive devastation Tuesday when an earthquake struck.

After some discussion, the members decided to wait until a board meeting next week to decide how to best help. Rotary President Catherine Fahy said that Haiti has 16 Rotary clubs, with five on them in the hardest-hit Port-au-Prince area.