43 percent decrease in fire reports – Deputy Fire Chief, Wickham

Oct 14, 2021 News

President Irfaan Ali with Minister of Home Affairs, Robeson Benn, and other security officials making their way into the St. Stanislaus College compound where the Brickdam Police Station operation has relocated.

Kaieteur News – The Guyana Fire and Rescue Service (GFRS) have recorded a major decrease in the number of reports of fires as at the end of September 2021, when compared to the same period in 2020.

Deputy Fire Chief, Gregory Wickham.

Deputy Fire Chief (DFC), Gregory Wickham, on Thursday last, informed reporters that the fire service responded to a total of 832 fire calls to date. When compared to the same period in 2020, the GFRS record shows 1,639 fire calls were made, representing a 43 percent decrease.
“The Fire Service, over the years, has been working assiduously to ensure that this number remains or even be reduced further when it comes to the end of the year for the response of the Guyana Fire Service for fire calls,” Wickham told members of the media.
Wickham raised concerns with the high number of prank calls received but noted that the fire service has no other option but to respond to each fire call it receives.
Alternatively, the DFC further stated that another major aspect of the GFRS – the Emergency Medical Services System – recorded 4,728 calls representing a more than 50 percent increase when compared to the same period in 2020.
“It is obvious that we have more calls for medical assistance this year as against last year and even if you were to make a comparison with fire calls as against calls for medical assistance, we will see that the percentage would be far greater for the number of instances where EMS had to respond,” Wickham explained.
Wickham assured that despite what occurred with the Brickdam Police Station fire, the Fire Service is always ready to respond to reports.

The Brickdam Police Station before and after.

The Fire Service was heavily criticised by President Irfaan Ali, after fire destroyed 80 percent of the Brickdam Police Station a week ago. “I am publicly putting the fire service on warning…this cannot and will not be tolerated,” the President had said following the fire service’s response to the fire at the Brickdam Police Station.
According to the President, hundreds of millions of dollars was spent in the last year to boost the Fire Service’s response and “to put it crudely, you cannot respond to a fire in your backyard.”
The President stated that government cannot continue to make investments in the Public Service and not have returns, adding that inefficiency has to be weeded out. The Head-of-State posited that the response by the Fire Service to the Brickdam Station fire had nothing to do with assets and resources but the unpreparedness by the Service.

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