Firefighters are being lauded for their quick action which last evening contained a fire at the GuyOil Bulk Fuel Station located at Providence.
The fire which consumed a large portion of the lubricant bond located behind the GuyOil gas station was speedily and completely contained by the four firefighting units which responded to the numerous calls received by the Guyana Fire Service (GFS).
According to Fire Chief Marlon Gentle “at about 20:05 hours [last] evening the Guyana Fire Service received numerous calls that there was smoke and fire emanating from what the callers referred to as the gas station.”
He explained that subsequent to the calls “the GFS alarm system was triggered and four units responded. One from Diamond, one from West Ruimveldt and two from the Central Fire Station which are the major foam units.”
Gentle further told reporters present at the site that when the units arrived they observed “different coloured flames” emanating for a building suspected to be a bond and immediately went into industrial firefighting operations as they recognized they were dealing with petroleum products.
The Fire Chief noted that approximately three to four million dollars’ worth of foam and other chemicals were deployed in the efforts to contain the fire. These efforts were successful in preventing the fire from spreading to the tanks and the fuel loading area which are located behind the bond.
Civilians who observed the fire were full of praise for the firefighters telling Stabroek News that “The fire service did a really good job, when I come here it was thick, thick fire and in less than ten minutes they out it.”
Gentle shared their enthusiasm telling report-ers, “This threat is something you don’t take lightly it has the propensity to expand…to get into a next phase very rapidly. It doesn’t take any bluff. We have an operational plan, the plan kicked in, we realised that the plan has worked…all in all it was a good operation.”
Minister of Public Infrastructure David Patterson who was present, said of the fire service “they did a good job, in light of it being a fuel depot.”
He explained to reporters that he was in his office when he was informed of the fire and fearing it was the fuel depot affected he travelled to the site to observe what may have been damaged. He noted however that the office and depot were not affected by the fire.
Up to press time there was no information as to the possible cause of the fire. Staff who were on site when the fire began reported that they only became aware of the fire when the bond’s internal alarms were triggered.
The fire chief has said that an investigation into the cause of the fire would not be possible “Until sometime [today] when the light is back up and the place is clear.”
He noted that though there were alarms blaring “which would suggest some measure of safety and detection has kicked in” there is need to work with the owners/operators of the site to improve the fire preparedness of the location. (Thandeka Percival)
