By Ariana Gordon

FIRE Chief Marlon Gentle believes that the state of affairs at the Georgetown Prison on March 3 could have led to a major jail-break, given the agitated nature of the prisoners during the riot which led to the burning to death of 17 prisoners.Testifying before the three-man Commission of Inquiry (CoI) yesterday, Gentle who has 31 years of fire-fighting experience, described the situation at the Camp Street penitentiary as “volatile and violent.”
“There was a potential for anything to happen…persons could break out…there could have been a major jail-break,” said the Fire Chief who was led by attorney for the Guyana Fire Service and Guyana Police Force, Eusi Anderson.

He said too that with the situation being so tense and the inmates agitated, he felt that such a situation involving prisoners could immediately be turned around. He said many of the prisoners were angry and vented their anger from their respective locations.
“First responders [firemen] getting into the situations like that can easily become victims…” Gentle added, noting that he was briefed by Officer-in-Charge of Operations, Compton Sparman, before he arrived on the scene that the “situation is grave and the prisoners are at a high state of agitation…”
‘THIS IS A RIOT’
Sparman, he said, told him to expect casualties given the magnitude of the fire. He said he overheard Sparman while commanding the firefighters at the prison saying via the VHF radio to “Proceed with caution! This is a riot!”
According to the Fire Chief, there was a possibility that the angry prisoners, some of whom felt that the prison officials were responsible for the burning to death of their colleagues, could have taken the firemen as hostages to retaliate.
“When I ventured into the prison compound to make contact with the director, I was verbally abused…I was spitted on, especially when I was passing an area they call the cage…I took another route for my own safety and not to agitate the prisoners any further,” he added, stressing that “anything could have happened then.”
After manoeuvring his way through the prison compound, Gentle said he met with Deputy Director of Prisons Gladwin Samuels and Commander ‘A’ Division Clifton Hickens who briefed him.
“That wooden prison north or north-east of the affected building, that was the area where the ruckus was going on,” the Fire chief said.
CAUSING TROUBLE
Additionally, Gentle made it clear that from the utterances made by the inmates on the day in question, they had every intention of causing trouble. He said as he passed inmates in their respective areas, he heard them say, “Why the *^#$@# fire chief coming now and we want to *&^$% up the prisons?”
Although he was in the compound, the Fire Chief said he didn’t see it necessary to visit the scene of the fire. According to him, the fact that lives were lost meant that Capital ‘A’ Division would have been turned into a crime scene and the less persons traversing the area, the better for investigators.
Asked to speak to how equipped the Fire Service was to combat the fire of March 3 at the penitentiary, Gentle said the resources available on that day were sufficient, while noting that “no fire service has everything it needs.”
HOSTILITY
Meanwhile, Garfield Benjamin, a section leader of the Guyana Fire Service, told the Commission that the situation at the Camp Street prison was life-threatening. Benjamin said the prisoners were hostile towards the firefighters and resorted to throwing bricks they would have gotten from within the cell at firemen.
He explained that the prisoners broke the concrete structure in Capital ‘A’ and threw the concrete pieces at the firemen. Two of his colleagues were injured. “Well you could see that the prisoners were throwing bricks at us trying to stop us from doing our jobs…I couldn’t really estimate how many but it was a lot,” Benjamin responded after being asked by Attorney Anderson to explain why he felt the situation was life-threatening.
After being probed by the attorney, he estimated that approximately 30 bricks were thrown at the firefighters and many averaged 5-6inches in size.
The fireman, who has been within the employ of the Guyana Fire Service for 20 years, said neither he nor his team of firefighters were prepared to deal with the tragedy of March 3. Benjamin explained that while they were part of simulation exercises, it was nothing compared to the reality.
He said no amount of training he received during his time as a firefighter prepared him for the events of March 3.

“We never had an actual stuff like this happen. We went and do a mock drill at the same location on February 26,” he said, while describing the situation as “kinda gruesome.”
“We had to deal with unrest prisoners and it’s always threatening…we never had training to deal with unrest like what happen at Camp Street Prison,” he said, noting that fire-fighting efforts were not hindered by the attacks by the prisoners.
The fireman said that as firefighters were attempting to extinguish the fire, they were obstructed by prisoners who were standing along a walkway. However, as the fire spread, firemen tried their best to put the fire out.
He heard the prisoners hollering, “Help, help, help” as the heat intensified in the cell, while noting that while he was not inside of the cell he observed approximately seven fires lit in different locations. According to him, fires were lit to the main entrance of the Capital ‘A’ Division.
Based on Benjamin’s observation, mattresses were lit by the prisoners.
“They light it at intervals… they didn’t light it at one spot. I could not have seen the whole area… just part of the area,” he stated, noting that firefighters were “kinda skeptical because prisoners were on the loose between us.”
The career fireman added that the door to the cell was “jammed.” “How do you know the door was jammed?” asked Anderson and Benjamin replied, “we were trying to open the door and it wasn’t opening. It was heavily grilled and we depended on a power saw to open the door.”
He said the heat from fire caused the metal to swell, making it difficult to open the main access door.
Benjamin added that it took firefighters a while to subdue the fire ,but when the access door was opened they were able to “attack the fires.” At that point not many fires were observed as the mattresses used by the prisoners were already “burnt out.”
He recalled seeing 12 dead bodies by the doorway, some under the beds and about three in the toilet area. The man said “it wasn’t a nice sight…it was the first time I saw so many persons burnt.”
SAVED
However, four of the inmates were saved because they followed the instructions of the firemen.
Meanwhile, lead firewoman Sophia Boucher told the Commission in her testimony that she was in charge of the Control Room of the Central Fire Station on March 3 and she recorded the procedures and operations between rsto 14:00hrs.
Boucher who has 15 years experience as a firewoman, said there are several books of record used and was asked about the book she specifically used relateing to the Camp Street fire. She said a record was made in a green logbook, which detailed the time the alert that there was a fire to the mechanical problems facing vehicles assigned to fight the fire at the penitentiary.
During cross-examination by Glen Hanoman who represented the Guyana Bar Association, it was suggested that a new logbook be created for the purpose of the CoI. Boucher denied the suggestion.
“That log book … you were assisted in drafting up logbook for the purpose of bringing it here. You assisted in preparing a brand new logbook to deal with this issue and there is another one,” said Hanoman.
“No sir,” replied Boucher. Hanoman then asked her about the location of the previous book used by staff of the Control Room and she indicated that it was at the Central Fire Station. The attorney said he doesn’t find it coincidental that the book was started on March 3, the same day of the Camp Street Prison.