Fire Chief supports auxiliary service to back GFS
Guyana Chronicle
December 22, 2003
FIRE Chief Carlyle Washington is in support of the reestablishment of an Auxiliary Fire Service to complement the strength of the Guyana Fire Service (GFS).
Fire Chief Washington spoke at the Disciplined Forces Commission (DFC) hearing Friday in reply to a question by retired Brigadier David Granger.
Asked if the full quota of staff would be available, the Fire Chief responded in the affirmative. He said recruits to the Auxiliary would be exposed to the same 12-week training given to recruits to the Guyana Fire Service.
Five hundred and seventy firefighters are needed for the 12 fire stations throughout the country. And there is a shift system for a 24-hour service.
In terms of training, Washington is satisfied with the quality of training his ranks have to go through.
There is a temporary training school at Alberttown Fire Station. Recruits engage in practical training at the National Park that includes pump drills, ladder drills, rescue drills and the administering of First Aid.
In the classroom the recruits are taught the duties, responsibilities and qualities of a fireman, and have to battle various types of fires.
As for advanced training overseas, the Fire Chief said this is done in the United Kingdom, the United States of America and Trinidad and Tobago. It is quite expensive, added Washington. He recommended that necessary facilities be provided here for advanced training.
The Fire Chief will be visiting several fire stations to examine procedures and operations.
The mandate of the DFC is to hold an enquiry into the operations of the Disciplined Forces, which include the Guyana Police Force (GPF), the Guyana Fire Service (GFS), the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) and the Guyana Prison Service (GPS), and to recommend the reform of the Disciplined Forces to the National Assembly.