So far for this year, the Guyana Fire Service has responded to 510 building fires and some 807 grass fires, the Minister of Home Affairs, Robeson Benn announced today.
He made the statement today while responding to questions from Opposition Member of Parliament Geeta Chandan-Edmond as he justified the allocation of an additional $24M in supplementary funding to the Guyana Fire Service.
The Home Affairs Minister said there is no denying that there has been an increase in the number of fires across the country.
“There has been a large requirement for responses to fires in this dry season. We have the El Nino on us, temperatures have been going up to 34-35 degrees Celsius, particularly in country areas, where it has been dry, there is a lot of grass fires,” he explained.
He said a number of those fires were also maliciously set, and remain under police investigation.
Minister Benn said amid the increase in fires, the Fire Service is building its capacity.
“The sum that we are requiring is just $24 million. There have been a number of new assets, which we have procured, two new excavators and we brought on line a number of new assets including a new firefighting unit at the airport – an aerodrome firefighting unit and a ladder for going up to rescue people,” he explained.
The Committee of Supply was also told that the Fire Service continues to work in collaboration with the Ambulance Service, and to date has received 6,140 ambulance calls countrywide for ambulance assistance. However, the Home Affairs Minister expressed concern that the Fire Service continues to receive an alarming number of fake calls.
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