The Guyana Fire Service is refuting claims that one of its firefighters was rescued by a civilian after falling into a burning building on Tuesday night.
Guyana Daily News, in a report, contended that while extinguishing a burning building at Charlotte Street, Bourda, a fireman fell into the building and had to be rescued by a civilian but the Fire Service said that was far from the truth.
“There were no casualties or injuries sustained by any firefighter or civilian as a result of the fire. The Guyana Fire Service is therefore refuting several inaccurate reports made by the Guyana Daily News in relation to the fire. Contrary to what was reported, no firefighter fell into the burning building or needed to be rescued,” the Fire Service said in a statement on Wednesday.
According to the Fire Service, it received a report of a house on fire at 21:20hrs on Tuesday and water tenders 76, 105, 106, 107 and 112 from the Central Fire Station, Alberttown Fire Station, West Ruimveldt Fire Station and Campbellville Fire Station responded to the Lot 172 Charlotte Street location.
“The house which served as an apartment building was completely destroyed leaving two persons homeless, while two other buildings suffered minor damages due to the radiated heat,” it reported.
The supposed cause of the fire at this time is malicious setting by person (s) unknown, the Fire Service said.
It said contrary to the Daily News Report, no firefighter mounted the fire tenders without being fully attire, however, it confirmed that a female firefighter was present at the scene, without the requisite protective gears.
“…it is against protocol for a firefighter to mount/ride the fire truck without being in full firefighting gear. The Daily News report which stated “when the report was made, the brave Rogers, who was not on duty, jumped onto the truck and headed to the scene” is therefore incorrect and brings discredit to the Fire Service,” it maintained.
After being grilled by the press, the Fire Service confirmed that the female firefighter was combating the blaze though she hadn’t her safety gears on. The Fire Service said as a result of the breach in protocol, the firewoman has been reprimanded.
The Fire Service also refuted claims by Daily News that a domino competition was in full swing at the Central Fire Station at the time of the fire.
“The GFS strongly denies this allegation and would like to clarify that there was NO domino competition being held at the time of the report.
