Design of new Central Fire Station on Homestretch Ave soon – Benn

Government is moving ahead with plans to relocate the Guyana Fire Service’s Central Fire Station from its congested downtown location to Homestretch Avenue and according to Home Affairs Minister Robeson Benn, the design concept will be out soon.
He made this disclosure during an outreach hosted by the Fire Advisory Board to push fire prevention and mitigation practices on Wednesday.

“We have three concept documents… Having reviewed the concept just now, we’ll rollout to the public what we’ll be having in terms of [the design of] a new, modern Fire Station to deal with how we go forward in the future,” Benn told the gathering at the Guyana Police Force’s Training Centre.
According to the Home Affairs Minister, the new facility will be constructed on approximately 3.5 acres of land between the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall and the D’Urban Park Stadium. A portion of the land at the immediate east of the stadium has been earmarked for the construction of a sports facility.
The current location of the Central Fire Station on Water Street near the Stabroek Market, is heavily congested and hinders response time.

In addition to this, Minister Benn said the new location will also allow for more room to properly house, maintain and deploy assets.
“[This is] the best place with open land to take in the number of new assets that we have and still acquiring the operating spaces needed and the fact that we have to cater for future development beyond that even which we are contemplating with the new design means we had to have adequate space… That also means that that emergency response service and the ambulances too will be moved to that new location,” he further told reporters on the sidelines of Wednesday’s event.
The Home Affairs Minister had first announced last month that the D’Urban Park area has been identified as the site for the relocation of the Central Fire Station, which also houses the GFS Headquarters.
Provisions for the relocation has been set aside in the 2021 National Budget. While no sum was specified for the construction of the new facility, funds were included in the GFS’ $1.9 billion budget allocation.
This accounts for the relocation of the Central Fire Station, the construction of a new fire station at Eccles, East Bank Demerara, and the purchase of six water tenders and two ambulances.
In fact, Minister Benn disclosed during Wednesday’s event that five new firetrucks have recently arrived for the GFS and are currently at the wharf to be cleared.
The Home Affairs Minister used the opportunity to implore with members of the Fire Service to ensure they take proper care of the equipment that are being provided to enhance their performance.
“We have to pay attention to the care and use of these assets because on a unit basis, they are much more expensive than any other thing that we buy in the Ministry – $60 to $90 million for a new firetruck. So we got to pay attention to their proper usage,” Benn stated.
Fire Stations will be set up in three of the new townships – Mabaruma, Region One (Barima-Waini); Mahdia, Region Eight (Potaro-Siparuni) and Lethem, Region Nine (Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo). (G8)