Fire Service must be “first line of defence for all emergencies” – PM

…EMTs responded to over 7000 emergencies, delivered 12 babies in 2025

…as GFS records 34% reduction in fire calls

As the Guyana Government continues to inject billions of dollars into the Guyana Fire Service (GFS) to strengthen its national emergency response, Prime Minister (PM) Brigadier (Ret’d) Mark Phillips said that the agency must be equipped to handle any type of disasters that could arise in the country’s growing economy.
The PM made these remarks at the opening of the GFS Annual Officers’ Conference on Wednesday, where he highlighted the efforts being made to build out a modern fire service.

According to PM Phillips, modern firefighting organisations are expected to be “the first line of defence for all emergencies” – including traffic accidents, floods, wildfires and hazardous material incidents.
“The core functions of the Guyana Fire Service remain fire prevention and fire suppression – that is in your DNA… But we’re no longer living in an era where we can afford to look at a fire on a house and ignore the car crash down the street. We’re no longer living in an area where we can specialise in one type of disaster while citizens suffer from another.”
“In cases of floods and water disasters, which we know all too well here in Guyana, the Fire Service must be a key arm of natural disaster management. Whether it is wildfires sweeping through our savannahs during the dry season or floods inundating our coastland during the rainy season, the public expects the Fire Service to be there. You’re no longer just firefighters; you’re lifesavers in every sense of the word,” Phillips emphasised.

Other types of disasters
Similarly, the PM noted that a modern fire service must also be equipped to handle other types of disasters that are likely to happen in a country that is seeing massive expansion in economic sectors such as energy and industrial manufacturing.
“With this expansion comes potential threats like chemical leaks, toxic exposures, and hazardous materials. The Guyana Fire Service must upgrade its capabilities to ensure the proper storage, handling and disposal of these hazardous materials. We cannot call ourselves modern if we can put out a house fire but cannot contain a chemical spill… “We must build a future of safety, not just the capacity to respond,” he asserted.

Response time
But even as the GFS is modernising and building its capacity, PM Phillips pointed out that quick response continues to be a challenge grappling the agency. He noted that while response times have been improving due to the heavy investments in modern asset acquisitions, it is still a sore issue when it comes to public perception – something that the Government is looking to address by decentralising firefighting to better serve rural communities.
“The era of the centralised fire service is coming to an end,” the PM stated, adding that the Government is moving toward a hybrid model, combining the trained fire service with decentralised, community-based units to better serve both coastal and hinterland regions.
This model will see all the Neighbourhood Democratic Councils (NDCs) across the country being outfitted with their own fire tender to ensure faster response to fires within communities and support the GFS efforts.
Against this backdrop, PM Phillips charged the GFS to examine, during the two-day conference, the best path forward on achieving this vision.
“I want you to know about the training, the protocols, and the command structure. How do we ensure that the community volunteer with a small tender knows when to fight and when to retreat? How do we ensure that they coordinate with the professional officers of the fire service? This is your challenge, because if you can crack this code, [and] if you can put the power to fight fires into the hands of our communities, we would have done more to save lives than any single piece of equipment ever could,” Phillips declared.
Over the last five years, the Guyana Government has invested more than $3.5 billion in the GFS, not only buying much-needed equipment but also improving capacity – all aimed at advancing firefighting.
The two-day GFS Annual Officers Conference is being held under the theme: “Fire Reduction through Technological Innovation and Enhanced Community Engagement”.
According to the chief fire officer of the GFS, Gregory Wickham, the agency’s work to raise awareness is bearing fruits with the public adopting greater fire safety precautions, resulting in a 34 per cent reduction in fire calls last year.
“The reduction is a direct indication that the fire service has been engaged with those persons who are using fire,” Wickham noted. In fact, he said in many cases, the fires are already extinguished by members of the public by the time firefighters arrive on scene.

EMTs
On the other hand, the GFS’s Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) unit responded to over 7000 emergencies, including delivering 12 babies by the end of 2025.
But even with the Fire Service becoming more efficient, better equipped, and highly skilled with over 29 stations across the country, new modern fire tenders, advanced tools, and ongoing training, the Home Affairs Minister underscored the need for a greater shift towards prevention, especially in Guyana’s growing economy.
“For too long, the measure of the fire service was how fast it could respond after a fire started. Response time matters; it will always matter. But the most effective fire service is one that reduces how often that response is needed. Every fire that did not start is a life protected and a home preserved,” the Minister posited.
She went on to add, “The goal is not awareness only. The goal is a country where fewer calls come in because most people know better and do better.”