Days after the Guyana Fire Service faced scathing criticism over its performance in fighting the Brickdam Police Station blaze on Saturday, Fire Chief Kalamadeen Edoo was yesterday sent on leave.
Minister of Home Affairs Robeson Benn told Stabroek News “We have asked Mr Edoo to proceed on accumulated leave.”
Pressed further on the rationale behind the decision, Benn did not offer any other comment. He also stated that it is unclear how much leave Edoo will be on.
Edoo’s leadership of the Fire Service has faced severe criticism from members of the public.
President Irfaan Ali on Sunday morning after visiting the site in the aftermath of the fire lambasted the fire service for their lacklustre performance.
“The response of the fire service was poor, at its best, yesterday [Saturday], and as President, I hope that the fire service can acknowledge this because if you can’t acknowledge the problem, you can’t deal with it,” Ali said.
The fire which started around 11.06 am destroyed more than 80 per cent of the station infrastructure and records within an hour. At no point was the fire service able to contain the blaze to one area.
“This is less than three minutes’ walk to a main fire station. We cannot continue as a country and as a people to not address these issues. We can’t continue to make investments and not have the return on the investments. Whether it is in the public service, in the hospitals, the inefficiency has to be weeded out. If you don’t want to perform public service then do the honourable thing, don’t take a job in the fire department and believe it is a part time job,” he emphasised.
Pointing to the “hundreds of millions of dollars” spent on the Fire Service over the years, Ali said they should be ashamed of their response.
“To put it crudely, you can’t even respond to an event in your backyard. And the response is not about assets you know, the response is about attitude and commitment and discipline and professionalism and it is about being in a state of readiness… I am publicly putting the Fire Service on warning, this cannot and will not be tolerated,” he stressed.
The president noted that from initial reports, firefighters were not prepared and many turned up at the scene without appropriate protective gear. He said that he personally received reports on the response from residents and business persons on the scene and living in the area and those reports were not good.
