Firemen caught with stolen items from Traffic Chief’s burnt house

Jun 01, 2016 News

Four firemen have been handed over to the police after they were implicated in the theft of items from the home of Traffic Chief Dion Moore, where they had gone to extinguish a fire on Monday night.

The Traffic Chief’s house at Belfield, East Coast Demerara.

The men were detained after a cellular phone that was stolen from the Traffic Chief’s house at Belfield, East Coast Demerara, was found under the seat of the fire tender they were in.
For a while now, residents have been complaining that they have been losing items from their homes after firefighters would have carried out work there, but no one was actually found culpable.
The suspicions were manifested yesterday.
Police Commander Marlon Chapman told this newspaper that firefighters were summoned to Moore’s house to tackle a fire. While there, they had to enter the building to carry out their work. When they were done and Moore examined the interior of his house, he noticed that two cellular phones were missing. He contacted the senior fireman at the scene and made enquiries.
The firemen denied removing the items and were allowed to leave, thinking that they had gotten away with their nefarious act. However, soon after leaving the scene, their vehicle was stopped and searched and one of the cell phones was found under the driver’s seat.
Of course the actions of the firemen have caused great embarrassment to the Chief Fire Officer Marlon Gentle and the rest of his ranks.
Gentle in an invited comment expressed disgust over the incident, especially since the actual firefighting work was done excellently.
“They have tarnished the work that they went to do at the traffic chief’s house,” Gentle said.
He explained that after the phone was found, the matter was reported to the fire service and the ranks placed into the custody of their superiors, who conducted an internal investigation.
“We have finished our internal investigations and we are handing them over to the police,” the Fire Chief stated.
Gentle confirmed that there were four firefighters on the truck in which the stolen phone was found.
“I’m not saying that all of them did it, but somebody had to be responsible.”
The fire chief emphasised that there is no place in his organisation for persons who will destroy the good name of the Guyana Fire Service, and as such, his administration has dealt with the manner in the appropriate way. He said that what is most disgusting is that the act was perpetrated on a member of a sister Joint Service organization.
“As long as you steal, it is a criminal offence and I have to maintain the integrity of the 500-plus ranks under me. Public trust must be maintained,” the fire chief declared.