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~ 7 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE BRITISH GUIANA FIRE BRIGADE ANO AMBULANCE SERVICE 1960.

(Printed by the Authority of His Excellency the Governor).

GEORGETOWN, DEMERARA, BRIT ISH GUIANA.

1961 , .• l REPOR T OF THR BRITISH GUI ANA FIRR BRIGADE .AND AMBULANCE SERVICE FOR THE YFAR 1960.

FIRF BRIGADE HEADQ.UA rrERS, Water Street, Ge orp;e t ovm, 3-qI'!'

ISH ~·nr4NA.

Sir, 9th June, 196 1.


I have the honour to submit for the information of His I•:xcellency the Governor the Annual Report of the British Guiana Fi r e Brigade and Ambulanoe ..S.ervice for the year ended 31st December, 1960 .

• 1 .
• 1 .

STREN3-TH l 1960 \1110S: The Rtrenr-th of the Brigade ~t the 3ls ~ December, 1 Chief Fire Officer 1 Deputy Chief Fire Office~ 2 Station Officers 6 Sub Officers 10 Secti.on Leaders 28 Leadin~ Firemen 132 Firemen 2 C 1 As s I I C le r ks 2 Cleric al Assistants 1 Barrack Labourer.

2 .

STATIONS Thel"e are three f"ire stations in the city of_ Georaetown (tw o land stations and one river stati~n), and one in the tovm.

of New Ams teroam. "


- The r>e is need for new s tB tions, but UD to the present time little progress hes been made in this di rection.

/3~ ..

The Hon .

Chief Se cretary, Chief Secretary ' s Office, Public Bu"ildin,...,.s , Geo rP.

'e town.

-2- 3.

APPLIANCES The appl iances held at the end of the ye•ar were: 6 Dennis Water Tenders of 600 g.p.m.

capacity, each equipped with V.H.F.

Padlo ; 2 Austin Champs (Firefly) of 350 g,p.m .

capacity each~ 1 Self - propelled pump of 700 g.p.m.
capacity• 1 Pump of 900 g .

p .

m. capacity· 4 Hathaway Light Pumps of 150 2.0 .m.

canacity each: 1 Fire Boat of 8700 g .p.m.

capacity, equipped with V.H .F.

radio: 1 Fire Boat of 2300 g.p .

m. cap13city, equipped with V .H.F.

radio: 1 Fire Boat of 500 g.p.~.

capacity: 1 Bedford Utjlity Truck· 3 Morris Commer r· ial Ambulances and 1 Lani Rover> type Ambulance, each equipped with V.H.F.

rad i o .

NEW AMSTERDAM 1 John Ker-r Water Tender of 600 g.p.m.

capacity: 1 Self-propelled pump of 300 g.p.m.


capacity; 1 Austin Champ (Firefly) of 350 g.p .

m. capacity~ 2 Trailer pumps of 250 g .

p.m. capacity each: 1 Morris Utility Van: 2 Morrj_s Commercial Ambu l ances, one of which is equipped with V.H .

F. radio.

Approval for the purchase of one Land Rover t ype ambulance was given in 1960.

4 .

MAINTENANCE All vehicles and appliances have been maintained in good or<1.er by the workshop staff, despite the diffi culties unrl.er which they are reoni 1'.
'ed to work .

If the efficiencv of the staff is to be maintRlned and full use made of it, more workshop space is needed.

which were involved in accidents during the ye~r.

Repairs were eff ected in ten cases to vehicles /5 ... ) } 11!1 • • 5.

HYDRANTS AND WATF R SUPPLFS - ~------ --~-~ ~1.~ Durin~ the year six new fire hydrants we~e ins tal led in the La Pe nit en ce area.
This now makA s. the tot a 1 number of hydran ts in t h e city and its environs l~ 134. the ni ne p ipe1ine s, to allow the fire boats t o pump water qu ick ly into high risk areas, was com pleted in Water Street, leav ing one more to be compl e ted.

Ano t her of In New Amste r ctam t welve ne w hydrants were installed in the S·avannah Park Ho using Scheme , making a total of .

108 hydrants situa t e d in the to wn of New Amsterdam.

6.
6.

EQUI PMEHT Rf' CF I VED the year: The follo wing equ ipment was r e ceived during 1 Wat er Tender'.
1 Land Rov er ty pe Ambulance ~ 1 Hydraulic Jack· 2 Mark II 4 11 Fjector Pumps • 3 Neil Robert son st retchers~ 16 Cots with 12 mattresses ; 1 Bench gr :i.nd er : 1 High pre s s u re g rease w1n : 6 Life saving j ackets; 6 Lifebu oys; 2 Pairs 7 1 6 11 Dinghy oars; 1 Nife Day l igh t s i gnallin g lamp with 3 ~ed and 3 gre en signalling disks : 1 7 x 50 Nava l Binocular: 2 Liquid filled grid steer i ng compasses: 2 Liquid filled pr ismatic pocket compasses; 11 Surpans spanne rs; 24 G.E.C .
lif e saving torche s; 2 6 11 Ex AM Dividers: 3 Douglas Protractors: 1 Ex AM illumina t e d chart r e ader: 4 8' lengths· 4 11 BSS armoured suction hose; 68 Nu - Swift foa m fire extinguishers; 10 C.T.C.

extinguishe rs: 30 Air foam charges; I I I I I I I I I l ) - 4 - 114 Soda Acid charges; 23 CO2 charge s; 34 C. T. C. charges: 50 Chemic a 1 foam charges.

7 .

HOSE A total of 23,100 feet of ho.s e wa s he l d b y t he Brig ade : 18,225 feet in Georgetown and 4,875 fee t in New Amsterdam.
The hos e i s in reasonably good cond i t i on fo r f ire fighting p1:irposes, but a r e serve i s needed .

8.

FIRE CALLS c alls , an analysis of which is gi ven he~under: The F i re Brig ade r e sponded to a total of 332 GEORGETOWN Ac tual Fires Late Fire Cal ls F a1se Alarms (Good Intent) False Alarms (Malicious) ~TvV AMSTERDAM Actual Fires Late Fire Calls False Ala r ms (Good Intent) False Al Rrms (Malicious) 220 33 11 25 32 6 5 Causes: Boiling over of f ats, oils e tc.
Spontaneous combustion Careless burning of rubbish Car e l ess ~i sposal of cir,arette ends or ma tche s Co a l - pots and fir ep laces Childr en pl aying with matches I gni tj_ on of inf 1 amrn ab l e vapour or substanc ~s .

.
• Dirty chj_:rmeys Domestic oil o r gas stoves Electrical appliances 6 3 4 87 6 7 11 ~ 2 40 5 ,_ ) t:: -._,- Leaking of inflammable liquids 4 Oil lamps or candles Mali ci ous setting of fires Unknown Welding Moto r v~hicle faults Sparks from furnaca Electrical fau lt s Method of Extinguishing~ By occupants or othP.r persons using buckets of water or extinguishers before the arrival of the Brigade: Deme rars Flectric Company By F i r e Brigade using: (a) Hand appliances (b) Hose N ' e l s (c) One jet from PumPs (d ) Two jets from pumps (-e·) Three jets from pumps (f) Four jets from pumps (g) Nine j P. ts from pumps 4 10 8 5 1 9 1 69 128 51 17 40 44 5 3 2 1 Methods ~.LCalling_Fire Brigade: GEORGETOWN Central Exchanre Police Direct Line Running Ca 11s By V. H. F .
radio Gen .

Fire Stat ion Switchboard Mobile NEW AMSTERDAM Central Bxchange Po lice Running Calls Private Fire Alarm Sys t erns 253 6 26 1 2 1 31 3 5 4 /Nun1ber ... .,, ~ -6- Number of Buildings destroyed o r seriously damaged by fi r e~ r.EC'RGFTOWN Buildings Destroyed 1 .

One fou r-floor wooden building approximately 50' x 60 ' with asbestos co rrugated r o ofi ng, situated at 4 0 Hi gh and Harel Streets and owned by MessP"S .

Ahmad, -· · Ishana lly and McDo om I shmael.

(11.1.60: 12.43 a.m .. ) 2.


A one-flat wooden building measuring approximately 30 ' x 24' with sheeted ga lvanised roof, situated at 39 Norton and Bishop Streets and owned by Mi s s E .

Richards of 183 Charlotte Street, Bourda.

(1.12 .

60 : 1.10 p .111.)

Buildings seriously_ damaged 1.

A wooden building of thr>e~ floo-r.'..s mea.s.uring approximately 20' x 75' with ga lvanised roof, situated at Re !se nt and We llington S treets and owned by Mr. F .

Kawall of 112 Laluni S treet.


The fir~t and second floors were us ed as living quarters wh ile a Dr y Goods Store was on th e ground floor .

A small quantity of dry ~oods and a portlon of a counte r werP.

destroyed by fire, and much of the r emaining s t ock suffered water damage .

4.45 p .

r1 . )

(Zl.1 .

60 : 2 .


A one-flat wooden building mea suring approxi mately 20 1 x 12 1 with galvanised roof, situatPd at 78 Adelaide Street, propPrty of Mr. G. Silas of 42 Br oad and Adela ide Streets and occupied by Mrs .

A. Aa ron and fa mily.

The floor , wall s and roof were badly burnt .

Furniture, clo th ing and other household eff e cts we r e completely destroyed.

( 13.9 .

60 : 2 .

22 p.m.) NEW AMSTERDAM Buildings destroyed 1.


A one - f lRt wooden buildi ng measuring apnrox i mately 30 ' x 18' with galvanised sheeted roof, owned and oc cuD i ed by I .

Bove ll and f amily of Sj_r James , West Coast Be rbice.

(5.

3 .

60: 8 .

20 p .

m.) 2.

A wooden one - floor building measuring appr oxi ~a t ely 35 1 x 15 ' with galvanised sheetP.d r oof, situated at 53 Stanleytown, New Amsterdam, Berbice and owne d by Mr .

Hansraj of 40 Stanleytown, New Amste r dam, Berbice.

( 29 .

12 .
( 29 .

12 .

60 : 1.35 a.m.) Bui ld ing· seriously damaged A two-flat wooden bui l ding meRsuring approxiMately 2 4 1 x 22 ' with galvanised she ete d roof, owned and occupied b y Sancha rrie of Ade l ohi Village, Canje, Berb ice.

The building hous ed a grocery , P8r1our, sewing room and dwel li ng hous e .

A portion of about 80 sn .

ft at the b ottom of the f ir st floor was badly burnt.

2 .

18 p .

m . )

(27 .

3 .

60: /9 ... } > 7 9.


DEATH BY FIR~S a result of ini~ries caused by fire: During the year the following persons died as Patsy Cornelius of the Ritz Hot-el, High and Harel Streets.

Unidentified person.

11.1.60 11.

1.

60 .

10.

SPECIAL SERVICE CALLS The Brigade carri ed out 202 special services dur ing the year, in addition to responding to fire calls.
These calls are classified as chargeable and non-chargeable; humanitarian services bein~ non-chargeable, and al l other types of special services being charge d at the approved standard rates.

Summary_Q[_~ecial ~ervlre Call§_attended by the Brigade during 1960 .
Salvaging vessels in the harbour and at sea Filling tanks and vessels Standing by at public entertainments Resetting couplin~s and charging extlnguishe rs Humanitarian service Rescue of persons and vessels adrift at sea or in the harb our Destruction of cinematograph films 28 79 42 18 6 16 13 collected from Special Services rendered: During the y ea r the sum of $5 ,44 3 .05 was Revenue Deposits Total River Applianc es $ 2,047.15 $ 565,40 $2,612 .
55 Land Appliances 1,444.04 1,386.46 2,830.50 = $=3=, 4=~=-1=·=1=9==$=1='=95~~=·=8=6=====$=5=='=4=4=9 =· 0=5= 11.

LEAVE was granted to p-., 4~~-4,_,:,l, averagj_ng 12 days t aken per man .

Casual~ A t cta l of 2 ,239 days casual le ave Vacation: TweEty- elght men proceeded on vacation l eavE?, and the total number of days vacation leave .granted was 3,56 3 , an avera P;e of 127.3 per app1icant.
Sick~ A total of 2,031 d a ys sick l er- ve was granted to personnel, making an Avera ge number of 11 days taken per man.

I ,, /12 ..• ' ' ~ J I c!

_,I .., 12.

DISCIPLINE - 8 - with resulting as follows: Twenty- eight cas e s of discipline wer e dealt Fines awarded Reprimands Extra Fa t i _g;ue Confinement to BarrRcks ... Admoni shme nt 13.

PRO'MOTIC1N F'XAMINATIONS 10 8 3 6 1 Qualifying examinations for promotion to · the ranks of Leading Fir e man and Section Leade r were held during the year.
Seventy- one firemen sat fo r promotion to the rank of Leading Fireman and ten were successful.

Fifteen Leading Firemen sat for promotion to the rank of' Section Leader and six were successful .

14 .

Rf'SIGNATI ~NS , RF TIRF; i\/JFN TS AND DEATHS ) Firemen r e tired on pensi on.

r esigned and one died .

During the ye er two Le ad ing Firemen and two In addition, two Fi r emen 15.
TRANSFE :qs S ix Firemen were transferre d from t he New Amsterdam Unit to Georgeto wn , and six were transferred from Fire Brigade Head0n art ers, Geor>ge town to New Amsterdam.

16.

PROMOTIONS The following promotions were made : 1 Leadin[; F irer:, an to the rank of Se /"' tion Leader: 4 Firemen to the rank of Le ading Fir eman.
1 Sub Officer t o the rank of Station Office r : 1 Acting Section Lead er to the rank of Sub Officer: 3 Leading Firemen to t h e rank of Section Leader: 6 Fire re n to the r ank of Leading Fireman .

17 ·.

AMBULANCE' CALLS The number of ambulance calls attended during the year was 10,395, of which 8,169 were emergency calls.

The ambulances travelle d a distance of 45,64'1 mile s .
Chargeable Cases > In George t own 231 charge able pri vate ambulance c ases were undertaken, and 46 in New Amste rdam, der i ving an income of $49n .

6o .

0 ID ) ) ) ,._ , \ J I -9 - Mental Cases Ninety-fou r mental pat ients were conveyed b y ambulance fr om the Georgetown Hospital to the Transnort and Harbours Depar tment special ambula nce car thence by ste;amer and ambulanr.e to the Mental HosnitaJ, Berl)i ce .
Atkinson Field An ambulance responded to calls from Atki nson Field on 121 occasions for the purpose of conveyin,: t o th e Georgetown Hospital cases arriving by ' plane from the Interior .

18.

TRAINING The training of the Brigade personnel has been wel l maintain~ d throughout the yepr and included practica l drills with appliances and ecplipment, together with s pec ial training in the use of br e athing 3pparatus 11nd r esuscitators.
In addition to this, two members of the Bri gade attended cours e s of training in the United Kingdom .

The training of personnel of the Auxi li ary Unit has continued , and duty crews h a ve mannEi d appliances on drill n i ghts for the ru.

rnose of attending fir es (in addition t o the norma 1 att e nrlanc e ) in order to Promote inte r e st an d ga in practical e xperience .

A we ekend e xercise was h e ld fr 0m the 7th to the 10th October at Atkinson F i eld .
Two Water Tenders were manned e ntirely by members of the Auxiliary Un i t .

The exe rcis e was voted a great s uc cess hy thos e who took part .

In addition to p umping practice the men gained exce lle nt experience i n f i re exe rcise and fire ground communications.

Special mention must be made of the keenness and interest with which membe rs of the Auxiliary Unit c ontinue to p e rform their duties.
The sacrific e mad e by them when they give of their own time to attend: training classes and drill parades is cer t ainly worthy of h i gh praise .

1 9 .

F IRF PRFVENT I ON During the yer:ir unr'l.er revie w an extensive survey waR carried out in rura 1 areas , including Interj_o r distr i cts .

All Government buildings , cot tage hosp i tals , schools, factories etc .

were inspected and lectur As g iv en in the use and operation of fire equ ipment .
Muc 1 stress was laid on fi r e prevention and commonsense methods to be adopt ed in thA event of a fire .

difficult probli?m an1 much i nconvenience wa s suffered by Fire Prevention Inspectors in ge ttin g from one plRce to the other .

It has been proPos~d that e more convenient means of transportation be provided in 1961 .

Transportation Posed a Evacuation exerc is es continued to be conducted at schools, both Prima ry and Seco ndAry .
A tota l of 16,955 children took u e rt, along with He8dteachers and Assistants who were very co-operative in th e p roc r, ss .

and ninety- one schoo ls were inspec ted and recorrrrnendations made in r e spect of the mea n s of escape f rom fire .

Lectures in the use and operat i on of fire extinguishers were also given to the children .

Two hundred /Under ... -10- Under the t erms of the Fire Prevention Ordinance , No .

19 of 19f 4, 6,4 '~8 inspections were made throughout t h e Colon~r .
These included 9 15 full - scale, 1 , 212 special and goodwil l , and 4 , 311 ro11tine and follow- up visits .

new buildings and alt erations to exi sting buildings were a l so inspected .

The response to reconnnendations submitted was good, and pe9ple generally showed an awareness of fire prevention and fire protection .
Pr oposed Lectures and drills in the use and operation of fire equi pment, and measures to be adopted for evacuat ing buildings were carried out on 1,045 occa s ions a t private hospitals, convents, hotels and business premi ses .

On eech ocr.asion the attendance was satisfactory .

Duri ng the month of December a circular letter was addressed to 550 owners and occu pie rs of business premi s~s.
This letter dealt with various aspects of fire prevention, includ i n g means of esca i;e in the event of a f i re .

Inspections were also carri ed out on al 1 the sugar estates thr oughout the Colony, and advice was given with respect to the organising of volunteer fire fighting units on each estate .

A special course of t r aining for selected members of the staff of all sugar estates was u ndertaken .

Fire equipment was allocated as follows~ Fire EY.tinguishers I ) 2- g ln .

foam 2½ gln .
foam 2½ gln .

La France Qu a rt size c, m.c .

Bucke ts Axes Fire Exti nguishe r Charges Foam Water CO2 C. T .

C. So d a Acid Fi re Ala rm Sys tern 88 5 4 99 2 133 46 17 115 The fire alarm telephone systems installe d at th e Palms, Qu~en's College and the Gove rnme nt Spi rit Ware ho1-1 se are now s ,., tis f a ctorily linked un with the comr.mnica tion sys t em a t Fire Bri g ade Headquarters.
A daily test of e ach Rystem is carrie d out to ensure eff icient operation, and i t i s hope d ~h at in t he ne ar futur e other Govornment buil d ings will be afford ed a dir e ct f i re alarm system.

Commercial firms have slso b ee n encourap,e d to provide s 1 1ch a system, and the firms of Booke rs and Sandbach Parke r have taken the a r e now conne cted up t o Fire Brig a de He8dquart e rs.
l ea d in that their fire ala rrri systems , -11 - Metal Chutes The metal chutes recommended for the Georgetown Hospital, Palms and Mental Hospital were n ot p rov ided , but it is hopr;d that provisj on will be made in th e Estimates for 1961 for the recommendations to be imp l emented .

Mazaruni Prisons Approval for the purchase of a new diesel fi~e pump for Mazaruni Prison has b r:; en g i v e n, and i t is expec ted that t he pump will be insta lled in 1961.
Publicity Prop Bgand~ Fire Pr e vention slides continued to be proje cted on the sc r eens of cinemas in Georgetown and New Amsterdam .

Public Rel8tions Fire Prevention b ooths were on di13nlay at Fa ir s sponsor e d by the Uitv l ugt Community Council , Leagu e of Colour ed Peoples, Lusignan Connnunity Council and St .

Alban's Church, Be lladrum .

Pictures depir.ting various asper.ts of fi re pre vention we re exhibited and practical demonstrBtions g i ven in tackling fire s involving oil stoves .
At St .

Alban's, Belladrum, a pumn and crew gav e a display on actual fire fighting, and as an added attr action films were sho wn .

The Fire Prevention Branch in Ne w Amsterdam also held displays at Skeldon and Rose Hall, Cor entyne, through the invita t ion of the Community Ce ntre s. On each occasion a large number of people atte nded and showe d a k een interest in the proce e dings.
On the invitation of the Principal, Technical In stitute , a seri r s of l e cture s on Fire Preventio n was giv en to s tude nts and p r8cti ca l d emons t rations held on the us e and operation of f irf; eqv ipmen t .

A to11 r of the Fire Sta tion a nd Fire Pre v e ntion branch was also ar r anged , a nd student s show e d a ke en inter e st and expr Hssed their apnre ciation a n d sa tisf a ction a t th e completion o f the serie s .

20 .

PRESS CONFE RF N CES The good r e l a tj_ons h e twP.
en the Pre ss and th e r e f e r e n ce t o thE' c a r e l e ss h:,mdling of them .

The Bri g ad e con tinue d .

One Press Confer ence was h e ld dur~ng th e yea r and amon g ma tte rs di s cuss e d were o i l s t oves , with spe ci a l use of candles a nd oi l - l amps during loa d s h edding p e riods was als o di ~cuss e d .
The Pres s co-o ne rate d g en e rously in giving pub J icity to the v a ri ou s p o int s rai se d a nd stre ss e d the se rious conseque nc es t h a t can a ccrue when basic fire pre v e ntion me asur es ar e not a p p r e ci a ted .

21.

VISITS A liv e ly inte r es t co n tinue d t o b e shown by various Youth Or g anisat:1.ons wh o arrange d visits to th e Fire Station and Fire Pr e v ent ion b r anch .
from the Boy Scou ts Mo v eme nt we r e traine d a n d c e rti f icates issue d f or th e Fire man's Ba d ge .

Sever a l g roups > /22 .

.

.

- 12 - 22.

MORALE The Brigade continued to display a commendable fir;;htinp· spirit with the coura~e and tenac i tjT so necessary when de8ling with fires in a wooden city .

I have the honour to be, Sir, Your obedient F ire Officer .

The Hon .

Chi ef Secretary , Chief SecretR r y ' s Office , Publ ic Bui ldings , Georgetown . )
) EXPENDITURE - BR I T ISH GUIANA FIRE BRIGADE 1960 Head 18 - FIRE ~ROTECTION ad Title of Sub - Heed Expenditure GEO"RGET01VN Persona l Emoluments Other Charges Tran spor t&· Travelling Fire Engine s and_~mbulances Maintenance & Running Expen s es (Fir e Engines ) Appliances, Auxi l i::.ry Equ i pment & Hose Miscellaneous ) I Mai ntenance & Operation of Ambulance s Fire Boats Mainten a nce · and Runnirni Expenses Do ckinP.
; Char12;e s Equipment and Hose General Uniforms Auxili ary Fire Ser vice F'uneral Expenses $269 , 801 l '?.

, 9 11 4 , 0 79 3 , 649 1 , 519 5 ,792 4,284 5 , 734 2 ,560 21, 150 1 ,489 50 Total, Othe r Charges $ 6 3 , 2 17 EXTRACRD INA!1Y Purchase of: Equipment Fi r e Prote ction, Commercial Area 41,590 3 , 570 - - - - - - - Total , Extraordinary $45, 1 60 NEW AMSTERDAM Personal Emo l uments 57 .

059 /Other Charres .

.

.