Saturday’s catastrophic fire at the Brickdam Police Station laid bare yet again the failings of the government in the security sector and particularly the bumbling and ineffectual conduct of the Guyana Fire Service (GFS).
Two swift investigations are needed. The first of these would be the cause of the fire. There are reports that the fire was set by a remanded prisoner and that a confession has been obtained. This matter must be credibly, comprehensively and rapidly investigated.
Of equal importance is an examination of the GFS response from first call to the quelling of the inferno. This requires no commission of inquiry. Twenty of the ubiquitous time-stamped, amateur videos of various phases of the blaze examined by one or two experts not connected to the GFS would provide a comprehensive enough picture of the firefight. That should then lead quickly to decisions on leadership of the GFS and revamping the response to major conflagrations which have had a long history in this city.
There are related issues such as the judicious and efficient use of expensive equipment purchased with taxpayers’ money. Around six weeks ago, the fire service mounted an impressive `Get Ready’ exercise on Robb Street. The purpose of the August 22 manoeuvres was to test the capability of the Fire Boat Protector and other equipment when accessing water from the river to fight fires in the city. It was also aimed at testing and ensuring the effectiveness of both trainee and regular firefighters in the event of a major fire in a commercial area.
The Exercise saw a total of 86 personnel including nine Officers, two Sub Officers, eight Section Leaders, 11 Leading Firemen and Women and 56 Firefighters making use of specialized equipment which included one Fire Boat, one Hydraulic Platform, one Hose Layer and six Water Tenders which conveyed water from the river at John Fernandes Wharf on Water Street to Wellington and Robb streets, Georgetown, covering approximately 1.5 kilometres in distance.
One can safely say that the GFS appeared not to have benefitted from this exercise based on Saturday’s disorganised performance. There could have been some good reason for it but the much-vaunted hydraulic platform was nowhere in evidence on Brickdam fighting this fire from on high with mighty water pressure. It was evident on Hadfield Street in what can hardly be described as a supporting role.
Again, as has been the case in all recent major fires in the city, the GFS struggled to find reliable and adequate sources of water. Why wasn’t water drawn from the Demerara as had been done as part of the August 22 exercise to combat exactly a fire of these dimensions? At recent fires in the city, fire-fighters have appeared uncoordinated, unenergetic and without all of the necessary tools to undertake their urgent tasks.
The burning issue of fire hydrants continues to singe the force. The hydrants are meant to be the proximate source of water yet there continues to be evidence that many of these are not functioning, or worse, are not being utilised. For years, the GFS, the city, the water utility and ministries have haggled over who is ultimately responsible for the upkeep of the hydrants. President Ali would do well to immediately end this feuding and ensure that from this point onwards all fire hydrants are functioning and kept in working order.
As to the Guyana Police Force (GPF), Saturday’s fire also raises searing questions for it. The extent of the loss of case files and other documents needs to be ascertained. With Brickdam being the main station in the capital and for Division 4A one can only surmise the scale of loss of documents. Were these documents also in electronic form or was this the typical manual filing operations with no digitising that is so prevalent in government offices? The reconstituting of these files will be crucial to hundreds of cases before the court and the force must make this an immediate priority. The digitising and backing up of these files in the police force and across the public sector must also now become an urgent priority. Just as important is the question of the security of the most important police installation in the city. Granted that the Brickdam Police Station was a historic building worthy of preservation, it didn’t mean that the force could not have implemented measures to improve its safety and fire-resisting capacity. If as is being reported by the police that one disgruntled prisoner on remand with a piece of wire, sponge from a mattress and matches was able to demolish the entire Brickdam station then the police force has a major problem on its hands which has also beset other branches of the Joint Services. In 2017, rioting prisoners succeeded in burning down almost all of the Camp Street prison creating dislocation and other problems that subsist up to today. Did the police force learn nothing from this disaster?
What fire containment and suppression systems were available at the Brickdam station? Was there a fire alarm, extinguishers, sprinkler facility, fire hoses and sand buckets? Had the fire service recently advised the police force on the fire safety measures that needed to be taken at Brickdam and did it act on them?
PPP/C administrations have traditionally suffered spectacular arson attacks on ministries, schools etc. In recent months several buildings have been demolished by fire including two schools and Saturday’s obliteration of the Brickdam Station raises the question of whether the administration has placed enough emphasis on the protection of state assets. It is unbelievable the billions of dollars that are being spent annually on security for these buildings yet they seem so unprotected and vulnerable.
Saturday’s disaster will be a stern test of whether the Ali administration can rise to the challenge of protecting state assets through a better performing fire service, stepped up security and an intelligence-led approach.
