by Svetlana Marshall

Counsel to the Mahdia Commission of Inquiry (COI), Keoma Griffith has told the Commission that for approximately three months – before the deadly dormitory fire – the Chief Fire Officer (ag), Gregory Wickham, and the former Regional Education Officer (ReDO) for Region Eight, Annesta Douglas did nothing with a fire inspection report that was completed on the Mahdia Secondary School Dormitories, though being dubbed as “urgent.”

The Officer-in-Charge of the Mahdia Fire Station Ryan Scott, had submitted the report to both the Chief Fire Officer, and the then Regional Education Officer on February 7, 2023 after inspecting both the male and female dorms, that housed approximately 132 children and a dorm parent each.

In that report, Scott highlighted that the dorms had no fire alarm systems or smoke detectors, no exit signs and insufficient fire extinguishers. A total of 12 recommendations were made in the report.

The Counsel to the Commission said by the time of the fire, which claimed the lives of 20 children, little was done by the Chief Fire Officer and the then Regional Education Officer to address the report.

Griffith said Wickham, while boasting of having 30 years of experience in firefighting, simply informed the Guyana Water Incorporated (GWI) about the need to increase the capacity of the water main system in the area, while ignoring the other 11 recommendations in the report.

“Of the 12 recommendations listed in the fire report, the Chief Fire Officer confirmed to this commission that he acted on only one of those recommendations. Of 12 recommendations and requirements in the interest of saving life and property, and preventing fire, the Chief Fire Officer only acted on one of those recommendations. And the recommendation that he acted on, wasn’t to install fire alarm systems, it wasn’t to install smoke detection systems, alarm systems, or any of these things. All he did was to ensure that GWI was aware that they had to fix the capacity of the water main system from 4-6 inches to ensure that there was the ability for fire hydrants to be installed in the area,” Griffith said.

He said although the report highlighted that the dorms were at a higher risk of being affected by a fire, and urgently required a number of preventative measures and firefighting mechanisms, the Chief Fire Officer did not follow-up with GWI. 

“And having received that report from a high risks area, the CFO only ensured as he said that GWI was aware that they had to fix the facility. Did he run GWI down – the Guyana Water Inc? No. Did he follow up with GWI? No. Did he take any steps afterwards to ensure that facilities were in placed for the installation of fire hydrants? He did not!” Griffith said.

He said in the case of the then Regional Education Officer, the report was simply placed on her desk.

The Education Officer admitted to the Commission during her appearance, that she never read the report although it was dubbed as urgent by the Officer in Charge of Mahdia Fire Station.

Instead, she left the report on her desk for more than a week, as she attended to other matters in preparation for her transfer from the region.

Attorney Griffith said while Douglas appeared to be traumatized based on treatment meted out to her during an earlier transfer, she had a duty to either act on the report or hand it over to her superiors or officials with the Regional Democratic Council for urgent action to be taken. 

“While I empathise with Ms Douglas for what she went through, and maybe no public servant should have to go through that, duty and service to the children and the students of Region 8 required Ms Douglas to put her situation aside even for one second to bring attention to her superiors or any other persons, it could be her juniors, to bring the attention of that report to someone else,” Griffith said.

He said another report compiled by Scott on the state of the Mahdia Fire station at the time, and the urgent need for fire fighting equipment and repairs to the fire tender saw little or no action being taken by the Fire Chief.

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