As Fire Prevention Week 2011 comes to a close, one of Guyana’s towns, New Amsterdam,
with a population of over 30,000, is sort of ill-equipped to fight fires. There are over two dozen fire hydrants sprinkled across the town but they are useless and have been so for a number of years.
Even though there are a few water chambers installed below the ground, the hydrants still outnumber them and are more easily accessible because of the number. Also, water is distributed in New Amsterdam to different areas at different times, so there is the possibility of a water chamber being without water at any given time.
The hydrants, some 35 in number, were installed a few years ago but a recent check by Kaieteur News revealed that only one might be operational. The hydrants are placed strategically along Main Street, in Stanleytown and along Republic Road. There are a few others along Strand Road. The only hydrant which seemed functional and which had some water running out was located at Stanleytown.
The hydrants are painted in red, which makes them hard to miss. Whenever fires happen in the town and the Fire Service runs out of water, it would turn to the Republic Road Canal or the Berbice River.
The former, at present, could hardly be described as a canal, but rather a jungle of bushes and a haven for reptiles and other creatures, since it has not been cleaned in a long time.
Deputy Mayor of New Amsterdam, Harold Dabydeen, said that the township had accounted for the old hydrants but that their use was discontinued through age.
He noted that for some reason, the use of the new hydrants was discontinued and they were ‘locked off’ from the water network— all except the one which still works at Stanleytown.
He believes that the hydrants should be put back into operation, since the water chambers are too few and provide limited support to fight fires. “From my perspective, I believe they should return them to service…they (the hydrants) are attached to the water lines and chambers also, because sometimes they have to spread the hose very long [distances],” Dabydeen noted.
“They’re (the hydrants) in good conditions and they are solid. They are locked off even though they are connected to a network; that network was disconnected”, he posited.
Concerning the Republic Road Canal or the Backdam Trench, Dabydeen said that the council had written to the Regional Chairman recently for assistance to clean the trench, so that it can be a last resort to access water in the case of a fire. “They promised to clean it the other day, but failed to do so.”
He said that cleaning of the canal is “on his priority list”.
In the meantime, the town’s vulnerability to fire continues at a higher level since there are no reliable and stable means of accessing water.