Dear Editor,
I am so disappointed having learnt about the wholesale theft by ranks of the Guyana Fire Service of personal property belonging to the crew and passengers of the crash-landed Fly Jamaica aircraft at CJIA.
What is even more appalling is the fact that fire-fighters who are internationally recognized as first responders, are expected to uphold humanitarian goals and practices in life threatening situations where persons’ lives are at risk or endangered due to natural or man-made disasters.
Take for example the heroic and exemplary performance of fire-fighters currently fighting raging wildfires in Northern and Southern California. There has not been a single report of looting or theft by the fire-fighters even though they are active in affluent neighbourhoods where the rich and famous live and where there may be many valuables lying around.
Thus for Guyanese first responders under the guise of fire-fighters to act in such an irresponsible and disgraceful manner is to bring the noble service of fire-fighting into disrepute.
To steal from crew members and passengers at a time when they had to ‘run for their lives’ from a crashed passenger airplane is a crying shame and a grave embarrassment to our country and people.
This despicable act has brought into sharp focus once again the much debated question of trust and respect for ranks of the disciplined services.
This time, it is the Guyana Fire Service that has reignited the public confidence debate, not because of acts of heroism or magnanimity by its ranks, but because of acts by its own ranks that have damaged irreparably, the humanitarian image of the Guyana Fire Service.
By defaming their badges as a symbol of public faith and by the sullying the public’s trust in the Fire Service, the ranks involved in petty theft while aboard the crashed aircraft, abandoned the lofty ethics of the Guyana Fire Service. They should be decorated with badges of shame.
The GFS Stakeholder Consultation Forum held recently at the Arthur Chung Convention Centre to address Emergency Medical Technician services (EMT) was expected to ‘see all members within the GFS being trained in first responder skills in order to save lives in emergency cases’ however, the lectures delivered at that event, seem to have fallen on deaf ears in light of the crimes committed on the aircraft by ranks who would have attended the forum.
And Minister Ramjattan’s question;
“Are we up there for certain planes landing in difficulty? Ensuring minimum damage is done or no damage at all” though timely, appears to have signaled the possibility for ranks in the guise of first responders to commit opportunity crimes under the pretext of saving lives and protecting property. This was clearly demonstrated at the scene of the crash-landed Fly Jamaica aircraft.
The embarrassing incidents of theft perpetrated on an international aircraft by ranks of the Fire Service must have brought home to the Chief Fire Officer the need for more intense screening of applicants and rigorous, on-going training for recruits to the Guyana Fire Service.
Strict supervision of junior ranks by a senior experienced officer at all times especially in operational situations as the one involving the Fly Jamaica is of critical utmost importance.
Yours faithfully,
Clement J. Rohee
