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Fire Service gets equipment boost as Fire Prevention Week kicks-off

Oct 07, 2008 News

On Sunday, at the CARIFESTA Sports Complex, the Guyana Fire Service launched Fire Prevention Week with the traditional church service.
Fire Prevention Week is held annually to acknowledge the great fire that happened in Chicago on October 9, 1871. That was described as the world’s worst fire, having claimed 250 lives and destroyed 17,430 buildings, leaving 100,000 persons homeless. The estimated cost of the fire was $168,000 (at the time), millions of dollars today.
The anniversary was first officially observed in 1911 as the Fire Prevention Day.
The Guyana Fire Service is patterned from the British Fire Service, and during the 19 century some fire prevention work was done in Guyana.
During this week, premises were inspected by the relevant authorities, to make sure that codes and building regulations were adhered to.
However not all these regulations were observed. In the 1920s, the Fire Service trained supernumerary constables, who would handle first aid fire equipment, which was maintained by Water Street firms.
This saw the new era for the Fire Service, which was ushered in with the arrival of an expatriate British officer.
The sermon for yesterday’s service was done by Pastor Onesi La Fleur, who called on the fire fighters to be more vigilant. People should leave a worthy example for their children; and in doing so, the fire fighters should be an example for their children, Pastor La Fleur said.
Terry Holder, a Canada-based Guyanese, handed over to the Fire Service a quantity of fire-fighting gear. This donation, he said, came after he visited Guyana in April and witnessed a fire.
The man said that he thought that the “entire block” would have been destroyed, but because of the fearless fight that the fire fighters waged, the other buildings were saved.
The theme for this year is “Be Alert, Prevent Fires and Reduce Fire Loss.”

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