Fire service sees increase in false alarms-Fire Chief

Oct 25, 2019 News

Fire Chief Marlon Gentle yesterday said that from last year, the number of false alarms received and responded to has significantly increased. In addition, vehicular fires have doubled.

Fire Chief Marlon Gentle.

“The number of false alarms we have been getting has increased. Additionally, we have noticed from last year to this year, the motor vehicular fires have doubled. We saw a total of 69 fires of this nature so far,” the Fire Chief said.
From January to September, his district has received 2,141 “fire calls”. A whopping 181 were false alarms, and 69 were motor vehicular fires. With false alarms in most cases, they would not know it is of that nature until they get to the scene.
Not only is resources used up but there may be cases where trucks are dispatched on a false alarm and then a real fire call comes in and they may take quite some time getting to that scene, Gentle said.
Not only the fact that things are lost since a building may be on fire for a while before the fire tender get there from the scene of the false alarm but there is a possibility of the late arrival stigma that may follow the service, he added.
The vehicular fires, which were caused by defective vehicles where a spark plug or some other connection may be loose and cause combustion with either engine oil or the fuel. The other cause is malicious lighting of vehicles.
Of the 2,141 calls received for the year so far, “building on fire” recorded 221 compared to 187 private buildings last year. “Buildings on fires” have also increased this year.” These fires are due to a number of problems, electrical being one of them.
External electrical fires for this year numbered at 227. This number included lamp poles on fire, transformers igniting and electrical wires becoming entangled and igniting fires as well. With regards to internal electric fires, these saw an increase from 35 last year to 46 this year.
This is cause for concern, the Fire Chief noted. These are often times attributed to poor installation of appliances and poor wiring of buildings.
In some cases, negligence, whereby appliances are left plugged into an electrical socket and they are in the vicinity of combustible materials is the cause of these fires also, he said.
Over the years, the Guyana Fire Service has been conducting sensitisation exercises in schools, hospitals and business places as well as other facilities. These routine seminars are heightened during Fire Prevention Week.
However with the increases recorded, it is evident that person may not have been applying what is taught.
Fire Chief Marlon Gentle is urging members of the public to be more vigilant, to adhere to Fire Safety Rules and Regulations and most importantly, to be patient and work along with the Service to make the job somewhat easier.

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