The government yesterday commissioned the first fire station for the East Coast of Demerara at Mahaica, where Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee said that the unveiling on the eve of elections was a mere coincidence.
The unit, which will serve the areas between Bachelor’s Adventure and further east to the Mahaicony Bridge, was built at a cost of some $14M.
At the commissioning ceremony, Rohee noted that in the past, the East Coast was serviced by the Campbellville Fire Station as well as by the unit at Overwagt on the West Coast of Berbice. He said however, that a fire tender from the city racing to a fire on the upper East Coast has proved ineffective. He added that Cabinet considered the need for faster responses by the fire department in this regard.
Although the commissioning comes just days ahead of the November 28 polls, Rohee said it had nothing to do with them.
He noted that the contractor had indicated earlier that if quality work was to be guaranteed, more time would be needed to complete the facility.
The building, before being acquired for the station, was once used as living quarters by the Ministry of Health.
Fire Chief Marlon Gentle recalled that in 1991, an annual report, prepared by the then fire chief, noted that the development on the East Coast could not be ignored, with various businesses being established and Mahaica identified as a growing community that was almost a little town.
He said the report, mentioned that fire fighting support services was an issue which needed to be addressed, since the placement of a fire unit in a community was not the end of the road. He added that there is usually a supportive arm to the facility, which he noted was access to water supply, linkages for the movement of firemen and equipment in the form of roads, and also support from the citizenry.
Gentle noted that much of the wisdom from those days has materialised, but still plaguing the fire service is the shortage fire fighting support.
He explained that there exists a misconception that when a fire tender arrives at the scene of a fire, it is expected that the fire may be put out by that tender solely. “It may happen sometime but it may not happen all the time,” Gentle noted and he explained that a fire tender is “really a fire fighting appliance since on the machine there are a combination of tools and equipment.”
He said that the tank of the fire tender was built to hold 450 gallons of water, equivalent to a black tank.
Gentle noted that the volume of water is for “first aid fire fighting,” which means it can support one fire fighting operation or that it commences a fire fighting operation but relies on a continuous supply of water from another source.
Gentle noted that the new facility will be manned by a small group of firemen and it will subsequently receive support from auxiliary firemen, who will be drawn and trained in fire fighting from the Mahaica area.
