–at live firefighting demonstration
THE Guyana Fire Service (GFS) has displayed that it is fully capable of handling any type of emergency, following a live firefighting demonstration held on Friday to showcase firefighters’ operational response during active fire events and other fire-related emergencies.
Station Officer with responsibility for Operations at GFS Headquarters on Mandela Avenue, Rovin Thomas, said the exercise tested the Fire Service’s response capability and helped dispel public misconceptions about firefighters’ readiness.
“More often than not, there are members of the public who are of the perception that firemen only come to work, lie in, sleep all day, and then turn up late to fires,” Thomas said, adding that the GFS can only respond once a call is made.
“We have an in-house policy here: when in doubt, turn up. So even though we might think it’s a hoax call, our appliances will always turn out,” he said, noting that firefighters undergo regular training exercises, not just for demonstration purposes.
In Georgetown, the GFS maintains a three-minute response time, measured from the receipt of a call to the arrival of the appliance at the scene and the expulsion of more than 50 per cent of its extinguishing material.
Thomas explained that the response process begins at the Control Room, the GFS’s nerve centre, where all emergency calls are received and relayed to firefighters on the ground.
“What actually happens once a call comes in [is] the information is collected, and the gong is sounded. This is an alert kind of system that we have in place. Once that gong is sounded, the team dons their kits, mounts their appliance, and responds to the scene,” he said.
Thomas identified road congestion as the Fire Service’s biggest daily challenge, particularly during peak hours on the East Bank and in parts of Georgetown, noting that motorists do not always yield to fire appliances using sirens.
On the issue of water supply, Thomas said the GFS has benefitted from government intervention through the installation of more than 1,000 hydrants in and around Georgetown, in addition to access to water from canals.
Even in areas without hydrants or with clogged drains, he said, the GFS deploys bowsers carrying 14,000 litres of water.
Regular fire appliances carry 450 gallons of water, similar to a standard tank, while some bowsers carry up to 500 gallons. Appliances also carry a foam capacity of 250 gallons, used to fight fires involving oil, grease and vehicles.
Thomas said the GFS operates on a shift system, with approximately adequate personnel on duty at any given time, attached to three appliances: the fire truck (or water tender), the water bowser, and the hydraulic platform.
