Fire Chief to proceed on accumulated leave
Fire Chief Kamaladeen Edoo
Fire Chief Kamaladeen Edoo

ACTING Fire Chief, Kamaladeen Edoo, is expected to proceed on leave in the aftermath of the fire that destroyed the Brickdam Police Station, Home Affairs Ministry officials have confirmed.

Reports indicate that the Fire Chief is expected to proceed on accumulated leave and is expected to hand over to his deputy.
President, Dr. Irfaan Ali, on Sunday last, called for an independent investigation into the action taken by the fire service to control the blaze.

He described the coordination and response from the Guyana Fire Service (GFS) to the fire that gutted the Brickdam Police Station last Saturday as “poor, at its best”.

According to the President, a lot more could have been done by the fire service to control the fire and potentially prevent the destruction of several sections of the police station.

The Brickdam Police Station which was the headquarters for the Guyana Police Force’s Regional Police Division Four ‘A’ and housed the office of the regional commander, was flattened in the inferno. Years of police records and vehicles valued millions of dollars were destroyed in the blaze.
The fire, which reportedly started in the eastern section of the compound at 11:06 hours, destroyed the Property Room, Enquiries Office, Traffic Department, and Officers’ Mess Hall.

The Head of State, in his comments, noted that government has been making significant investments in the fire service in a bid to equip it to effectively respond to threats of fires across the country. He said these investments were not reflected in the fire service’s actions on Saturday.

“We have been making tremendous investment in the last year in the fire service and I have made this very clear [that] in this country people would have to be held accountable for their actions.

We can’t be making investments in state apparatus and state institutions and do not get the results from those investments. The response of the fire service was poor at its best yesterday (last Saturday), and as President, I hope the fire service can acknowledge this,” President Ali stated.

The President had also disclosed that instructions have been given to Home Affairs Minister, Robeson Benn to assemble a special team to investigate the performance of the service and reiterated government’s commitment to tackle inadequate and inefficient performance in the public sector.

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