Dear Editor,
I am cognizant of the fact that there is much remedial and reconstructive work that needs to be done within governmental departments by this new administration and particularly by the Minister of Public Security, Mr Khemraj Ramjattan. This latest atrocity underscores my point.
On Sunday last my friends and parishioners, Rafeek ‘Fazel’ and Zilla Khan and their four children, lost everything they owned to a house fire. But if their tremendous loss itself is not devastating enough, you need to read how it could have been prevented, or at least reduced.
The fire started in the living room about 2 am; Yaniv, one of the sons noticed it. He alerted the other two persons in the house – another brother and a cousin. They immediately called the Alberttown Fire Station. (The rest of the family were in Bartica visiting a sick relative.) The Alberttown Fire Station is at the side of the Khans’ home, literally. They could lean through their window and touch the fence of the fire station.
When they called the fire station, about two or three minutes into the fire, they were told by the officer on duty that there was no driver for the fire engine. The officer told them that the designated driver called in sick about 7 pm the night before (Saturday). No replacement for him was at the station at 2 am the following morning (Sunday).
Not only was there no driver for the fire tender but the fire hydrant which is in front of the Khans’ home, is covered by a 40 foot container, belonging to a construction site next to the Khans’ residence.
When the Alberttown Fire Station told the distraught family that they did not have a driver, they summoned a fire tender from “Central” Fire Station. Central station is downtown Georgetown, by Stabroek Market. It took that tender about 20 minutes to get to the scene of the fire. By then the top flat of the house (mostly wooden), was entirely engulfed in flames.
When I got to the scene about 2.40 am, there was only one fire tender there, and the house was still burning. I tried to ascertain why there was such a limited amount of activity and effort to extinguish the flames. I was told that they were conserving water.
About 3 am another fire tender arrived from the Campbellville Fire Station with a water pump. That pump was used to increase the water pressure and the fire was eventually subdued. It was then confirmed that the family had lost everything.
At around 6 am Sunday morning, some embers flamed up and again, the fire tender from Campbellville – and their water pump – had to be called, which suggests that there was still no driver for the fire tender at the Alberttown Fire Station, just next door to the Khans’ home.
Yours faithfully,
Pastor W P Jeffrey
Practical Christianity
Ministries
