Lessons from the Sacred Heart fire
Editorial
Kaieteur News
December 28, 2004
Sometimes its takes just one sharp jolt to snap a nation out of complacency about a vital issue, but sometimes it takes more. In this case, the issue is Guyana's capacity to prevent and fight major fires.
The sharp jolt the second one in recent time, is the Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church's fire on Christmas Day 2004 when one of Guyana's most beloved historical buildings was destroyed.
Christmas day is usually a time when Guyanese are engaged in praying, exchanging gifts or merrymaking of some sort. However, this year many of them found themselves engaged in witnessing via television, the destruction of one of Georgetown's most striking landmarks.
The unflinching eye of the television camera brought to many homes in vivid colour the Sacred Heart Church being engulfed and destroyed by tentacles of flames and smoke. Viewers looked on helplessly at the valiant but vain efforts of firefighters trying to save the building in front of the usual mix of awestruck, horrified, frustrated onlookers.
For many viewers, the scenes on television brought a strong sense of deja vous. The scenario was eerily similar to the destruction by fire of another historical building the Metropole cinema just a few months ago.
Many of the difficulties fire fighters encountered at the scene of the Metropole fire seemed to have been duplicated at the Sacred Heart fire.
Wasn't there a similar feeling that the firefighters were inadequately prepared and equipped to deal with a major fire? Weren't some of the problems on the ground, the same: too few fire appliances; too little water; lack of breathing apparatus to protect fire fighters from noxious fumes?
What of the situation with fire hydrants? The Metropole Cinema fire had exposed serious difficulties regarding the maintenance of fire hydrants as well as the inadequacy of underground water pipes to raise the water pressure in fire affected areas.
Since the Metropole fire, has the situation improved?
Viewers looked and looked as the Sacred Heart Church fire unfolded before their eyes, for signs of improvement. The more they looked, the less they saw.
What they did see, however, was many of the same movers and shakers who were present at the site of the Metropole fire. Mostly, they were doing exactly the same things. That is, nodding their heads sorrowfully, pointing their fingers in various directions and huddling, hands akimbo, talking in muted tones.
When prompted by the media, they made appropriate noises about what should be done to improve the situation. The trouble is, much of what was said at the scene of the Sacred Heart fire had already been said at the site of the Metropole fire.
It was as they say, the same old, same old.
That is the core of the problem.
The Metropole gave many important lessons requiring very precise solutions. Yet since the time of that fire, very little seems to have been done to solve these problems.
It is not good enough to see the same shortcomings in terms of firefighting being repeated.
What is lacking is a comprehensive, systematic, progressive course of action to move Guyana's fire prevention and fire fighting capabilities t a higher level. This means moving closer to the goals every day, not treading water and going nowhere.
Evidently, the sharp jolt of the Metropole fire was not enough to get things going in the right direction. Let us hope this second sharp jolt spurs the required action.