New Fire station to be built in Region Three

Fire Chief Marlon GentleGeorgetown: Chief Fire Officer Marlon Gentle has indicated that there are plans in the pipeline to build a fire station on the West Bank of Demerara.

According to Gentle, the Guyana Fire Service (GFS) has had to respond to a number of fire related incidents on the West Bank between Vreed-en Hoop and Wales. This is a situation that has been compounded by the Parfait Harmonie/ West Minster development, which is one of the larger housing schemes in the region. Gentle said that fire station servicing the area would reduce greatly the service’s response time to incidents on the West Bank.

 There are currently 16 fire stations in Guyana, with two more recently coming on stream; the $13M station at Mahaica and the $20M station at Diamond, East Bank Demerara.

Prior to 1992, there were only eight fire stations with four of them operational. Over the years under the PPPC Administration, there has been the building and commissioning of nine new fire stations in various parts of the country. There were, as well, only three fire trucks at that time. Today there is a fleet of over 50 fire trucks countrywide.

Lethem, Mahdia, Kwakwani, and Mabaruma Kumaka and Port Kaituma, are also to be provided with fire fighting capabilities shortly.