Fire prevention training to roll out across Guyana

The Fire Advisory Board of Guyana has launched an education awareness outreach programme to inform the public on fire safety and prevention.

The programme was launched via a small ceremony at the Laurie Lewis Lecture Hall, RK Security National Headquarters, on Wednesday.

Speaking during the ceremony, Chairman of the Board, Ramesh Sugrim said that the outreach will be conducted in all regions.

“Guyana is taking off rapidly, and likewise the skill of our people, the safety of our people, and the future as a whole, we will have to incorporate all those developments for our future,” he noted.

He expressed hope that the security and safety in Guyana could resemble that of the ABC countries in South America.

The ABC countries, or ABC powers, are the South American countries of Argentina, Brazil, and Chile, seen as the three most powerful, most influential and wealthiest countries in South America.

“Our security skill is paramount, our fire safety skill is also paramount important, because we need to protect our assets too,” he said.

Home Affairs Minister, Robeson Benn, highlighted that there is still a long way to go in improving safety and security in Guyana.

“We need to talk more about prevention, we need to talk more about prevention, we need to speak more about safety in totality and the security which goes along with it, and we need to improve our responses at the level of the fire service.”

He pressed the need for training in public and private institutions, especially in domestic circumstances, where a large number of fires occur.

“We have many more steps to undertake to have improvements and to make sure that the public is aware of the improvements we need to make, and the fact that we have to be vigilant in respect of the question about fires.”

The programme will be rolled out in businesses and schools across Guyana. The board consists of persons from the Environmental Protection Agency, the Ministries of Home Affairs and Legal Affairs, the Guyana Fire Service, among others.