Chief Fire Officer Marlon Gentle has indicated that there are plans in the pipeline to build a fire station on the West Bank of Demerara.
A Government Information Agency (GINA) release said that Gentle reported that the Guyana Fire Service (GFS) has had to respond to several fire related incidents on the West Bank of Demerara between Vreed-en-Hoop and Wales. The development of La Parfaite Harmonie/Westminster area into one of the larger housing schemes in the region has compounded the situation. Gentle noted that a new fire station to service the area would greatly speed-up the service’s response time to incidents on the West Bank.
He said that there are currently 16 fire stations in Guyana, with two more coming on stream: the $13M station at Mahaica and the $20M station at Diamond, East Bank Demerara.
GINA said that prior to 1992 there were only four operational fire stations out of a total of eight. It said that under the PPP/C administration nine new fire stations had been built and commissioned in various parts of the country.
It also said that prior to 1992 there were only three fire trucks while today there is a fleet of over 50 fire trucks countrywide.
It is also planned that the communities of Lethem, Mahdia, Kwak-wani, Mabaruma, Kumaka and Port Kaituma will be provided with fire fighting capabilities shortly.
