Police training in ‘basic firefighting’ helped to avert disaster at CID headquarters

Fire Chief (ag) Gregory Wickham on Monday morning commended ranks of the Guyana Police Force who put into action training they received from the Guyana Fire Service, which helped to quickly extinguish a blaze at the Criminal Investigations Department, Eve Leary, Georgetown.

“I want to give shout out, thanks and say good work to the members of the police force who would have used the training that they would have received from the Guyana Fire Service in doing basic firefighting with the use of fire extinguishers,” Wickham said while speaking to reporters at the scene of the fire.

He believes that using the knowledge garnered during the training helped to keep the fire under control until the arrival of the Fire Service.

Commissioner of Police (ag) Clifton Hicken told reporters that he received a call at approximately 10:05hrs, informing him that smoke was emanating from the narcotics branch building located at the northwestern side of the Criminal Investigations Department Compound.

“Having collaborated with the fire service the police would have had some initial training and so there’s a fire drill which will be activated whenever there’s a report of a fire,” Hicken said.

“The initial response by the police in collaboration with members of the fire service, they quickly de-escalated the fire and as you can see normalcy is prevailing,” he added.

Neither Hicken nor Wickham was able to provide information on the cause of the fire, or the damages that were incurred, however, Wickham was certain that the Fire Service will be able to ascertain the source of the fire at the conclusion of its investigations.

Five fire tenders responded to the fire, two from the Central Fire Station; one from Alberttown Fire Station; one from Campbellville Fire Station and one from West Ruimveldt Fire station.