Guyana Fire Service brings curtain down on Fire Prevention Week

Oct 19, 2013 News

Nine brand new fire trucks along with over 200 officers took to the streets of Georgetown in a march to conclude the Guyana Fire Service’s Fire Prevention Week 2013 yesterday.
The march which assembled at the 1763 Monument moved along Brickdam. Minister of Home Affairs Clement Rohee, took the salute in front of the Ministry.

The fire officers giving salute to the Minister of Home Affairs and other fire officials

Also at yesterday’s march, Fire Chief Marlon Gentle told Kaieteur News that Fire Prevention Week commenced last Sunday with a week of activities to educate students and the general public about the importance of fire prevention.
The Fire Chief added that the service conducted five community outreach programmes in Regions One, Two, Three, Four and Six along with visits to rural communities in Essequibo and Berbice.
“This is the time we take as a fire service to interact with the people in these areas. We don’t get to meet them every day to teach some of our fire safety procedures,” Gentle said.
Gentle said that the march also displayed some of the services recently acquired equipment donated by the Government of China through the Ministry of Home Affairs.
When asked about the numerous complaints by several communities about the sometimes slow response of the fire service, Gentle said, “I don’t believe in if you act or not act quickly …Of course, they will have reasons for some of the arrivals being quicker than some given distance, road conditions, access to the scene, time of the day and traffic.”
Gentle added that the fire service has suffered from accidents because of speedy responses and as such is now taking careful caution. “It is better to get there a little later than we don’t get there at all,” Gentle said.