The Guyana Fire Service (GFS) has responded to more than 800 fire calls up to the beginning of October this year and calls for ambulances through the Emergency Medical Service (EMS) for the same period has increased by 50%.
Acting Fire Chief Gregory Wickham made this disclosure on Thursday during a press conference held at the Central Fire station.
To date, Wickham said, the GFS had responded to a total of 832 fire calls. For the same period last year, he said no less than 1,469 calls were received.
This year’s figure represents a 43% decrease, Wickham said.
He further added that through the EMS system, the GFS has responded to 4,728 ambulance calls. When compared to the same period in 2020, Wickham said there has been a 50% increase.
“It is obvious that we have more calls for medical systems this year as against last year and even if you were to make a comparison with fire calls as against the calls for medical assistance, we will see that the percentage would be far greater,” Wickham explained.
Questioned whether the COVID-19 pandemic has contributed to the rise in EMS calls, Wickham said, the EMS system does not respond to requests to transport COVID-19 patients.
He highlighted that if such calls are received, they are usually referred to the unit at the COVID-19 centre in Liliendaal.
“The information comes into the fire department, once the person is interviewed and [has] these signs and symptoms, we would not expose our people,” Wickham said, before noting that there is a unit that responds directly to persons that present COVID symptoms.
Further, the acting Fire Chief said that the GFS has also been receiving a large number of prank calls. “…We can never sit back at the fire station and say it’s a prank call…..We will always have to respond,” he said.
However, he noted that systems are put in place so that the calls can be traced and once an individual is found responsible, he/she will be placed before the court. “It is very clear, once persons are found to be pranking the fire department, they will be taken before the court,” Wickham stated.
Just one week ago, the GFS was placed under intense scrutiny over its performance during a fire that destroyed more than 80 percent of the Brickdam police station.
During a visit to the scene last Sunday, President Irfaan Ali blasted firefighters and warned that their lax approach will not be tolerated.
“The response of the fire service was poor, at its best, yesterday, 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.
“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,” Ali emphasized.
Days after, Fire Chief Kalamadeen Edoo was sent on leave.
The GFS has since concluded that the fire was an act of arson.
A prisoner, Clarence Greene, who the police said confessed to starting the fire out of frustration, was on Thursday charged with arson.
