AS social networking sites continue to grow in popularity, the Barbados Fire Service is the first emergency service agency in the island to seize the initiative and maintain a strong connection with the public.

“We have been following the development of the various social networking sites, looking at the ones that are popular and user friendly, selecting Blogger, Twitter, Facebook, Ming, YouTube and Ustream,” informed the man behind the scenes, Fire Officer Glyne Alleyne.

“The Fire Department officially came on the Internet in 1998, but Bajan firefighters came about because, while the department’s website gives us an official web presence where we disseminate information to the public, we realised no provision was made for fire officers to interact.”

As a result, Alleyne started the blog: Bajan firefighters, in 2001. Since then, the group has embraced public interest and diversified, with 950 members (and counting) having signed on to the Bajan firefighters Facebook page.

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