Fire Chief Weaver resigns, despite recent contract offer, while officers reportedly welcome new opportunities for promotion
Fire Chief and Assistant Commissioner of Police Elvis Weaver has tendered his resignation to the Royal Police Force of Antigua and Barbuda after having recently been offered another contract.
REAL News has received information that Weaver will serve his last day as head of the Fire Department next Tuesday, March 22, while inside sources allege that he will continue to work with the Administration as a consultant to the Minister of Public Safety.
The names of two suitable veteran officers were shared with our Newsroom, with one suggested as Weaver’s likely successor, since the other contender is too near his 60th birthday.
Weaver was expected to proceed on retirement this month, having served about 42 years in the Force. However, in February, the authorities asked that he serve another two years as Fire Chief – which marked the second time his contract was being extended.
That extension prompted some pushback from colleagues, who felt that Weaver staying on was a barrier to the upward mobility of younger officers.
His departure reportedly will clear the way for seven officers to be elevated in rank – from corporal to assistant commissioner – the sources say.
It is unclear what prompted Chief Weaver’s decision; but some persons are speculating that the pressures of the job – including the lack of tools to properly function and the public criticism of the handling of several recent fires – forced his hand.
The Fire Department is being blamed for the loss of four houses that burned to the ground in The Point last Thursday night, March 10.
Persons allege that the fire tender – called in from the All Saints Station – arrived on the scene without water. But this was strongly refuted by Weaver, although he admitted that the responding truck was equipped to carry only 400 gallons.
