permission to fight fires outside St. George's town limits.

Organisers say they have collected at least 300 signatures in St. George's and St. David's, and plan to present the petition to Premier the Hon. Sir John Swan and Home Affairs Minister the Hon. Irving Pearman tomorrow.

Under current rules, the 32-volunteer St. George's brigade fights fires in town but only provides back-up to US Naval Air Station and Hamilton firefighters for other East End fires.

Even the St. George's fire chief, Mr. Gary Renaud, would have to rely on Navy or Hamilton firefighters if his Ferry Reach house caught fire.

The reason is concern by Chief Fire Officer Mr. Reginald Rawlins and other fire officials that the St. George's volunteers have less training than their full-time colleagues in Hamilton or at the US Navy.

Scheduling problems have prevented some of the supplementary training Hamilton officials want to give the St. George's volunteers, but Mr. Rawlins said recently that plans are being developed to make sure it gets done.

After the training, he said, the St. George's volunteers could expect a more active role.

Mr. Renaud said that negotiations are taking place between the Bermuda Government and St. George's officials on supplementary training and other issues. He refused to describe them, but expressed hope they would produce a solution.

But the petition suggests that dissatisfaction and impatience linger among many East Enders.

"I think it's very unfair to cut us off like that,'' petition organiser Mrs.

Kathleen Brangman said. "They are putting us in a dangerous situation. And I think its unfair for all those men. They are trained.'' Mrs. Brangman, who lives outside town limits near the oil docks at Ferry Reach, said the petition was inspired by two incidents in particular.

One was a brush fire near her home, which was extinguished by the US Navy and firefighters from Hamilton who, she said, took 30 minutes to make the long trip to Ferry Reach.

The other was the St. David's tornado last month. In that case, Hamilton and Navy firefighters responded while the St. George's volunteers were put on standby for several hours.

"We are concerned about the fire brigade not going to the outer areas like St. David's,'' she said. "If anything happens in this area, like it happened with the tornado in St. David's, the fire brigade cannot come to our assistance. We have to wait for the Hamilton brigade or the people from the base.'' Mrs. Brangman said the petition also asks for "escape routes'' from St.

David's, to allow people to flee or the injured to be evacuated in case of a disaster.

Ferry Reach, she pointed, is the site of the Island's main oil and gas unloading and storage facilities. But Ferry Reach is joined to the Island by just one road, which runs right past oil storage areas.

Residents aren't demanding a second road, Mrs. Brangman said, but would be satisfied with a suitable dock at the western end of the peninsula.

The old dock at Ferry Point Park is ruined, she said, while the dock at the Prison Farm is in line with the oil docks and could be unusable in the event of a disaster.

"Suppose there is an explosion at the oil docks and the road is blocked off,'' she said. "How are we to get off Ferry Reach?''