Fire Service must work on saving assets in burning structures – Min Benn

Home Affairs Minister Robeson Benn has called for a new culture in firefighting where there are increased efforts to salvage assets from a burning structure, rather than just curtailing the spread of fire.
During a recent event at the Guyana Fire Service Headquarters, Benn underscored that as additional resources are being pumped into the various fire stations, this must be reflected in their performance.
He called for greater emphasis on saving assets when firefighters arrive at a scene, through preparedness and proper training.
“When we arrive, we have to be able to try and save the assets. We want to be able to stop the spread of fire. We want to extinguish and douse properly so that we don’t have to talk about reignition. We have to be able to deal with those issues in a way which is sound and we’re not embarrassed. The fundamental thing is the awareness as to training and the following of procedures and rules, the discipline that is required,” he divulged.
However, the Minister noted that soon, the Wales Fire Station will come on stream while noting that it must be able to fight fires associated with threats in the oil and gas industry.
A modern facility is being constructed at the West Bank Demerara location, with the fire station costing some $69 million. Other infrastructural works are pegged at almost $24 million.
It was catered that when the gas-to-energy project comes online in Wales, the area will be in need of such a facility. Among the benefits for Guyana would be the saving of between US$150 million to US$200 million in foreign currency which would have otherwise covered the country’s fuel import bill.
“We have to get beyond the concept of merely being there, even while the outfits will also have to put in their own measures to ensure that they don’t have problems by way of fires or explosions.”
The scope of Guyana’s gas-to-energy project consists of the construction of 225 kilometres of pipeline from the Liza field in the Stabroek Block offshore Guyana, where Exxon and its partners are currently producing oil.
It features approximately 200 kilometres of a subsea pipeline offshore that will run from the <<<Liza Destiny>>> and <<<Liza Unity>>> floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessels in the Stabroek Block to the shore. Upon landing on the West Coast Demerara shore, the pipeline would continue for approximately 25 kilometres to the NGL plant at Wales, West Bank Demerara.
The pipeline would be 12 inches wide, and is expected to transport per day some 50 million standard cubic feet (mscfpd) of dry gas to the NGL plant, but it has the capacity to push as much as 120 mscfpd.
Fire stations were planned for new townships – Mabaruma, Region One (Barima-Waini); Mahdia, Region Eight (Potaro-Siparuni) and Lethem, Region Nine (Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo). The Guyana Fire Service was also getting ready to build a fire station in Wismar, Linden, Region 10 (Upper Demerara-Berbice).
Collectively, the fire stations in the county of Berbice: New Amsterdam and Rose Hall Town, which are in Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne), and Onverwagt in Region Five (Mahaica-Berbice) make up the Berbice Fire Division. But authorities were mulling another station at Rose Hall earlier this year, having witnessed an alarming rate of fires in the area.
Last year, the Eccles Fire Station was commissioned at Nandy Park, East Bank Demerara, at a cost of approximately $37.8 million to provide fire and rescue services to persons living on the East Bank of Demerara from Agricola to Providence, and lend support to residents of West Demerara. (G-12)