Neighbourhood districts get firefighting vehicles; part-time workers to be trained as auxiliaries

Last Updated on Wednesday, 8 January 2025, 23:03 by Writer

Forty neighbourhood districts are to receive fire tenders and related emergency response equipment which would be staffed by government part-time workers who would be trained as auxiliaries, officials announced on Wednesday.

Local Government Minister Sonia Parag’s announcement was made at the commissioning of 40 firefighting and emergency vehicles at the Guyana Fire Service (GFS) headquarters, Homestretch Avenue. She said the aim is for “effectiveness and the quick response” that government expects from firefighters and emergency responders. “You the personnel have to ensure that you carry out your functions to a ‘T’, that you respond with the effectiveness because we can’t have a One Guyana by having a tent and putting all the six ethnicities under it. We have to ensure that our resources are delivered to the people equitably and we have to ensure that we respond to every community equitably,” she said.

President Irfaan Ali said, except for water storage capacity, the small vehicles are equipped with pumps and other devices that are “capable” to fight house fires in neighbourhood districts. “When one of this turns up in a street, they are immediately capable of fighting the fires,” he said, adding that they are designed for quick movement and low maintenance. He said commercial scale firefighting balls would also be provided to members of the firefighting volunteer corps.

Decades ago, the GFS had been equipped with a few small Land Rover firefighting appliances.

He said he has asked the Chief of Defence Staff, Brigadier Omar Khan; Police Commissioner, Clifton Hicken; Fire Chief Gregory Wickham; Director of Prisons Nicklon Elliott; National Security Adviser Gerry Gouveia, and the Head of the National Intelligence and Security Agency, Colonel Sheldon Howell to work with the various commanders to ensure that the Volunteer Fire Fighting Group is established in the Neighbourhood Districts. He said the corps would be paid under the government part-time job system and would be incorporated into the GFS.

Home Affairs Minister Robeson Benn said the 40 pickups, three ambulances and two new bowsers were acquired over the past year at a value of GY$1.2 billion. He said a camera room has been established and the vehicles would be monitored by global positioning system (GPS) to ensure that they are properly used. He charged the GFS management and firefighters to ensure that the vehicles are properly maintained by firefighters and Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs).

Fire Chief Wickham said the cust0m-built vehicles manufactured by the United Kingdom company, Angloco Limited, marked the first time that the Fire Service has acquired brand new appliances. “I’m proud to be at the helm of this service today where all of our appliances are operational and even when we are acquiring appliances, they are all new appliances that we are getting so the years of purchasing reconditioned vehicles are over,” he said.

Over the years, the GFS had suffered severely from the short lifespan of reconditioned vehicles, resulting in a number of them malfunctioning on their way to and from or at fire scenes. British High Commissioner to Guyana, Jane Miller credited Angloco, which has been working with Guyana for the past 30 years, with supplying “world class” vehicles. She also seized the opportunity to talk-up the quality of business relationships with United Kingdom firms. “Something that the UK does is that when we bring in companies, we’re not fly-by-night: come in deliver and off. We want a long-term relationship and Angloco is a really good example of those kinds of long-term relationships,” she said.

President Ali said he asked the British envoy to arrange for Angloco to provide training to local firefighters.

Mr Wickham praised government for funding the development of the Fire Service, as indicated by Wednesday’s “largest commissioning” of the tenders and ambulances. “The funding, the resources, the continuous backing you’ve provided allow us to effectively reach those communities that prior to this year would have been unreachable and they had suffered many consequences of fire loss but today, with the commissioning of these appliances, we would be able to reach to those communities that were unreachable for many, many years,” he said.

The Fire Chief remarked that Guyana is the only Caribbean country whose fire service is equipped with a Bronto Skylift truck-mounted, aerial platform that can elevate firefighters 120 feet above ground level to tackle fires and rescue persons. The Home Affairs Minister announced that the GFS would later this year acquire a second Skylift platform and another fireboat to support the development of Port Georgetown.

Mr Benn, in his remarks, said much depends on performance, mutually supporting each other, and synergistic actionable intelligence across the Disciplined Services.

In addition to new fire stations at Eccles, Wales, Ogle, Leonora, Diamond and the new headquarters at Homestretch Avenue, he said government would be constructing more stations at Charity, Parika, Wisroc in Linden and Soesdyke “to reduce the response times and to have the capability on hand to reduce response time”.

With more electrical equipment, combustible material and parents leaving children at home with matches and lighters, he stressed the importance of having smoke alarms and extinguishers.