Operations Manager of the Guyana Fire Service (GFS) Compton Sparman has said that a damaged fire tender along with the lack of fire hydrants and an open water source prevented firefighters from being able to fight the fire at the Byderabo dumpsite in Bartica last week.
Mayor Gifford Marshall had told Stabroek News that he had received a call late last Wednesday afternoon about a fire that had started at the dumpsite. After arriving at the scene, he said that he called the GFS for assistance but was told the vehicle was not working. As a result, it was a collaboration between the residents and town council which extinguished the fire.
Speaking to Stabroek News on Friday, Sparman said one unit was stationed at the Bartica Fire Station, which covers the entire Bartica. He said there were problems with the brakes of the unit’s vehicle and it was down for a few days. He pointed out that the required part had to be sourced from Georgetown and when they received it and repaired the vehicle, they experienced another problem.
He said that the GFS subsequently spoke to the region and related that the ‘Plan B’ in case of any emergency would be to use one of the light pumps and a utility vehicle to transport the water. However, he said they were unable to use the light pump last week because there were no fire hydrants or any close by water source that the light pump could have used. “Where the dumpsite is, there is no water in the vicinity and the distance you have to get water from it was impossible for us to get hoses to carry it that distance,” Sparman related, while stating that they could not have done any firefighting until the unit was repaired.
“The hydrants are supposed to be put there by the water people to allow us to access water for firefighting. These vehicles we have some carry 400 gallons of water and some carry 1,000 gallons and that is only for initial firefighting,” he explained.
Sparman added that even with the capacity of the fire tenders, they would still need a supplementary source of water to continue.
With respect to one vehicle being placed in the Bartica Fire Station, which was commissioned some seven years ago, Sparman related that the placement of vehicles was based on the resources available. “We look at the stats and you won’t put three vehicles in Bartica when the stats show that there are fires every three or four months. Our main strike force is in Georgetown because that’s where most of the fires occur,” he said.
Sparman added that since the fire, they have sent up a trailer pump, which can transport water over a larger area since the only main source of water is from the river. However, he said they will still need support from the other stakeholders. “We don’t have a utility vehicle to move it and even though the trailer pump is there, it still might be a problem because of the distance of the river to most places,” he added.
