There have been 14 fire-related incidents recorded at schools across the country for the period January 1 to September 18, 2024.
Of this total, 13 occurred at public schools.
Seven of the 14 fires were of electrical origin while three were due to fire alarm malfunctions, two were the result of baking incidents and one was caused by malicious intent and negligence.
According to data provided by the Guyana Fire Service (GFS), the fires of electrical origin were caused by electrical breakdowns in distribution panels, overloading of electrical circuits, and slack connection of live overhead electrical wires.
Among the affected schools are the West Ruimveldt Primary School, the Berbice Institutional Secondary School, Zeeburg Secondary School, Central Mahdia Secondary School, Starters Primary School, Mahdia Primary School, Berbice High School, Anna Regina Multilateral School Dormitory, CV Nunes Primary School, Bartica Secondary School Dormitory, No. 56 Primary School, Lodge Secondary School and Mae’s School.
In an interview with this publication, Chief Fire Officer (ag) Gregory Wickham disclosed that a large number of educational facilities and dorms across the country were inspected this year.
He explained that recommendations for fire prevention and safety have since been handed over to the Education Ministry which is responsible for putting mitigation systems in place.
“Well, generally all inspections, not only schools, we look for fire safety processes, whether they have been followed, we look to see that evacuation sites are in place, exits are in place, that they are not blocked. And so those are general things we do inspections for whether we go to any property, whether it be a government property, whether it be a private property. Yes, like any other building, we go to inspect, we would recommend, based on our inspection, whatever we find to be lacking any of the environment,” the Chief Fire Officer said.
In addition to school inspections, Wickham noted that thousands of students were engaged in sensitisation campaigns throughout the year.
He said that through outreach events, public education, and collaboration with local organisations, the GFS aims to educate the young population about fire safety measures, evacuation procedures, and the importance of early detection.
“We have, as a result of wanting to inform our students about fire safety and fire prevention. We have had several kids’ camps around the country and these were particularly directed to having children come in a particular environment or space and they are taught fire prevention, and fire safety. They are taught how to use a fire extinguisher to extinguish a small fire. They were taught the general principle of reporting a fire if they see one and what they should do in event of them being trapped in a building that is smoke-logged or even on fire. So, there is a series of things that we would have done recently to inform our students,” Wickham added.
GFS plans to amplify these efforts in the new month as part of its observance of Fire Prevention Week, which is slated for October 6–12 under the theme “Smoke alarms: Make them work for you!”.
“In the new month, the Guyana Fire Service would again extensively go out in outreach to reach our children because we will be celebrating our 50th fire prevention month of activities in the country. And so again, we will be going to schools, we will be holding seminars, we will be holding outreaches, we will be holding kids camp for our particular, to deal with our children and sensitising them in the way of fire safety and fire prevention. So those are some of the initiatives that we are currently engaged with and certainly, we will have expansion with more activities to sensitise our students about fire safety and fire prevention because we found out that students or children are very good capitalists to spread any information,” he added.
