Chief Fire Officer Marlon Gentle has retired after giving 36 years to the Guyana Fire Service (GFS).
According to a Ministry of Home Affairs press release, a farewell ceremony was held at the GFS Headquarters last Wednesday for Gentle, who was praised for improving the organiation during his tenure.
The release said Home Affairs Minister Robeson Benn thanked Gentle for his dedicated service to Guyana, and for leaving the GFS with an overall improved outlook, inclusive of better systems, more assets, and better services, from what he inherited. Benn also encouraged firefighters to continue to improve their service to the country.
Gentle handed over the ceremonial colours to Kalamadeen Edoo, who now has responsibility for the office of Chief Fire Officer, and challenged the firefighters to do better than him, to be the keepers of their brothers and sisters, and to listen to each other.
The release said he also charged the officers to support the new leadership of the GFS and to remember the requisite and prerequisite of discipline – “Obedience to your Superiors and Consideration for your Subordinates.”
Gentle also thanked Benn for his support, while recalling many occasions that the minister, during his previous tenure as Minister of Public Works, assisted him in his work as a firefighter. The 2005 floods, the St. Joseph Mercy Hospital fire, and fires on Regent Street Georgetown, were among the instances cited.
