The Fire Service has dispelled claims which suggest that tenders often respond to fire with insufficient water in their tanks.
In a recent interview with Fire Chief Gregory Wickham, he explained that fire trucks are not solely reliant on the water in their tanks and often seek alternative sources to combat blazes effectively.
“It is a myth. Each fire tender that goes out there has a capacity of water in it and the only time you will see a fire tender or fire truck as you would call it going to a fire scene and then going to an open source of water, whether that be a canal or a hydrant, is because the first observation is that the water in the tank will be unable to extinguish that magnitude of the blaze,” he said.
“So, we will have to move to get copious amounts of water. That is the reason why the fire trucks would divert rather than go straight to the fire scene.”
In fact, he explained that firefighters are trained to quickly assess the situation at the fire scene and make strategic decisions.
“One of these tenders, apart from many other pieces of equipment and human resources that are on them, they have a tank with only 250 gallons of water. We have a pump that is attached to that tender, that pumps at 250 PSI per minute. Therefore, it will not take much time for that tank supply of water to be exhausted,” he said.
According to Wickham, since his time in office, no fire truck has ever turned up on a fire scene without water. Moreover, the Fire Chief is encouraging members of the public to familiarise themselves with their local fire stations.
“The stations, are always open for inspections from members of the public, and so I want to invite members of the public at any time… stop by any fire station and ask them to check the tenders, and the firefighters will allow you to check,” he said.
President Dr Irfaan Ali has already issued a call for the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) to partner with other relevant agencies to develop cluster maps so that when firefighters turn up at scenes, they can expeditiously identify, for example, water sources in any given area, based on the information contained in the map.
