FIRE Chief Marlon Gentle has clarified some misconceptions in relation to the fire-fighting capacity of the Guyana Fire Service (GFS), noting that several operational factors are involved at scenes. He said: “Firstly, a tender is a piece of machine that, when it turns up at a scene, it goes into play and it just doesn’t put out fire. There are other factors to be taken into consideration.”
Gentle pointed out that a fire tender is an appliance with a combination of tools and equipment that make up an entire fire-fighting package, including a tank that carries water of not more than 450 gallons.
The tank is meant for first-aid firefighting and it can perform a rescue operation or it could contain a small fire in terms of suppression, he explained.
Gentle said a sore issue which has been plaguing the GFS countrywide is support in terms of water supply.
“What has to happen is that there has to be a continual supply or else the water will run out and we will still have firefighting to do. So, sometimes there are calls for the GFS fire-fighting operations to be done in such a way that the fire tender must be able to go to a scene without looking for support in terms of water. I want to say that it is practically and technically not possible in most occasions,” he posited.
Gentle explained that a room in which people would live and dwell, normally would have about 100 square feet and, within that room, there would be between 50 and 60 cubic feet of combustible materials and, when that ignites, the blaze spreads at a rate that sometimes the GFS cannot conceptualise, but it happens, nevertheless.
He said, when the fire spreads, into what is called a ‘fire spread’, fire-fighting action takes on a new dimension and, when fire at a scene is observed coming through  windows, doors and roofs, in the GFS term it is “fully involved”, meaning that everything in the building is already consumed.
“One would, sometimes, see the GFS engaged in efforts to save and contain the blaze but, placed in a nutshell, a tank of water could put out a fire in a small area but, when the GFS gets there and it is coming through the windows, doors and roof, it is totally involved and the GFS fire-fighting action will then be to contain the conflagration,” Gentle  stated.
He maintained that fire is a consummator and just does not start but spreads and consumes as well and he hopes that, sometime in his fire-fighting career, new equipment will come on stream that would give the punch expected to fire-fighting capacity.
Gentle insisted that the GFS is there to provide a service and, depending on the situation when ranks arrive at a scene, it would be shorter operation.
He said the GFS has seen a reduction in fire damage in the past four years but recalled that, in 2009, some disastrous fires occurred, in which several buildings in the city were destroyed.
But, looking back at statistics for two years, there has been none such because the GFS has strategised its firefighting response and has more equipment to utilise, Gentle observed.