Linden gets aerial support from CDC to help contain sawmill fire

Apr 17, 2025 News

Kaieteur News- Linden Mayor Sharma Solomon said the township is receiving aerial support from the Civil Defence Commission (CDC), as efforts continue to contain the fire at the Waaldijk Sawmill in Linden.

Speaking to Kaieteur News on Wednesday, Solomon explained that a helicopter is being used to disperse water from overhead onto a few sporadic areas.

Linden gets aerial support from CDC to help contain sawmill fire

The aircraft during its operations.

He expressed gratitude to the Guyana Fire Service (GFS) for bringing the inferno under control

“So that is the visual look of what things are, however, the smoke, because they’ve managed to control most of that flame, the material is still combustible, not combustible, but it is still flammable from internal it’s smoking a lot, and that is the major concern now,” he explained.

There were a number of agencies involved in the battle against the flames in the last few weeks, however, additional resources were requested due to the severity of the situation.

The mayor disclosed that from the onset, the township has been “seeking intervention and help beyond the capacity of the local community, and I want to also say that capacity included not only the fire service, but also many organisations and private people who rendered assistance. It was outside of that capacity, and help was being asked for.”

Though assistance was eventually given, it was not available in a timely manner, the mayor lamented. Prime Minister Brigadier (Ret’d) Mark Phillips visited the site on Tuesday. The mayor said while it was much appreciated, he stressed that it should have been done at an earlier time, and not when there is thick smoke affecting almost 2,000 persons residing in South Amelia’s Ward.

“So, our first thing, as we saw the government is now getting involved, is to ensure that we have a medical assessment done in South Amelia’s Ward, where homes are looked at and people are forced assessed to see their medical condition, and if the need is for evacuation of persons, because we don’t know how long this matter will last, in terms of the smoking, persons should be then provided with such space for evacuation,” he added.

On Sunday, the mayor reported that elderly residents of South Amelia’s Ward have developed respiratory complications due to the smoke from the aftermath of the sawmill blaze.

While he commended the Guyana Fire Service on the efforts taken to extinguish the blaze, he appealed to the Ministry of Home Affairs to provide the necessary gear, machinery and vehicles to the to the municipality so that should a similar incident occur in the future, Linden would be well equipped to handle it on their own, or contain it until help arrives if needed.

Pointing in the direction of a home from the site of the fire, His Worship told his viewers that there is an “entire population of people down into the valley, and it’s already causing significant respiratory issues for some very elderly people. In fact, I got a call this morning from someone complaining about this. So, this is now becoming something we now have to look at as we finish one catastrophe of the fire, we now have to go down into the valley and look at the residents who are complaining about the dust, the smoke, because this is not going away anytime soon.”

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