After spending hours helping to coordinate efforts to extinguish a sprawling brush fire threatening the US$30 million Demerara Dairy Inc farm at Moblissa, former diplomat and journalist Wesley Kirton found himself trapped shoulder-deep in a swamp as darkness approached, with no regular cellular service and fears of caimans and jaguars.
Kirton, recounting the ordeal in a statement posted on Facebook, said he spent more than an hour trapped before rescuers located him, pulled him from the swamp and rushed him to the Linden Hospital.
“I am alive. I am well. And I am profoundly grateful,” he wrote, while thanking the firefighters, soldiers, police, emergency operators, ambulance workers and medical personnel involved in the response.
Kirton said his involvement began at about 8.30 am on Thursday, when he received a call from National Security Advisor Captain Gerry Gouveia as he was preparing to leave home for his office at the World Trade Centre Georgetown.
According to Kirton, Gouveia was in Linden with President Irfaan Ali when reports emerged that bush fires were raging in the Moblissa area and threatening, among other properties, the dairy farm.
Residents of Moblissa and surrounding communities had complained of heavy smoke during the preceding night, he said. Kirton was asked to obtain a report from personnel at the farm.
Farm employees initially reported extraordinarily heavy smoke but believed there was no immediate danger to the dairy operation. Firefighters had visited the area at around 11 pm the previous night but had been unable to reach the heart of the fire because of the difficult terrain.
However, Kirton said information subsequently reaching the President and his team suggested that the situation was more dangerous than the initial assessment. A helicopter was therefore dispatched to conduct an aerial survey and, if necessary, assist in fighting the fire.
Kirton then decided to travel to Moblissa.
By the time he reached the Soesdyke-Linden Highway, photographs taken from the helicopter were being sent to him. One message accompanying the images warned: “The farm is under threat.”
Kirton said he kept DDL Chairman Komal Samaroo, who was in Canada, informed and was authorised to make whatever decisions were necessary to respond to the threat.
His concerns, he said, extended beyond the dairy facilities to the electricity infrastructure installed at a cost of millions of US dollars and to the homes and livelihoods of nearby residents.
“This is not simply a dairy farm. It is a transformational project — one that represents vision, investment, employment and hope for the community and for Guyana,” he said.
Kirton arrived shortly before noon, followed minutes later by the helicopter. A pond on the farm was assessed and found to contain sufficient water to support the aerial operation.
According to Kirton, the helicopter made 39 water drops as firefighters battled the flames from the ground.
Two fire tenders were stationed about half a mile along the Moblissa road leading to the farm, but the terrain prevented them from travelling along the trail and crossing the creek to reach the centre of the fire.
Kirton arranged food and water for the responders, who had been on the ground from early that morning. He initially supplied six boxes of food intended for the helicopter crew, his driver and himself, but later learnt that another eight boxes were required.
Using one of the farm’s four-wheel-drive pickups, he transported additional supplies towards the fire. A female firefighter placed two pieces of wood across a creek to help the vehicle cross.
On the other side, Kirton said, he was struck by the expanse of scorched land and the speed and intensity with which the flames were advancing. He saw firefighters beating down lingering flames with whatever was available, including, in one instance, part of a firefighter’s protective gear.
As dusk approached, Kirton joined firefighters and the helicopter co-pilot for an end-of-operation assessment. It was decided that the operation would be brought to a close since the fire had been extinguished and darkness was falling.
Before the group separated, the co-pilot called for a headcount. There were 17 firefighters and Kirton.
Immediately sank
Kirton began walking towards the creek but encountered several small patches of flames. Concerned that a change in the wind could cause his clothes to ignite, he moved towards an area covered with weeds.
He could see water beneath the vegetation but believed it was only ankle-deep.
“I stepped into the weeds. I immediately sank to my waist,” he recalled.
Attempts to move only caused him to sink farther. He began crawling and pulling himself forward by clutching the weeds, but dry land remained beyond his reach.
When Kirton saw the helicopter leaving the farm, he attempted to stand and wave. He sank to shoulder level.
His cellular phone had been submerged and there was no regular service in the area. However, its screen displayed the message “Emergency calls only,” and he dialled 911.
Kirton said he gave the operator every telephone number he could remember, including one he had recently obtained for the Chief Station Officer of the Fire Service in Linden. The operator later told him that calls to those numbers had gone unanswered.
He then remembered a number President Ali had given him years earlier and asked the operator to contact the President and report that he was in danger.
During a subsequent call to 911, a male operator told him to remain calm and said Gouveia was on the line. The call was patched through.
Kirton was unable to give his precise location, saying only that he was less than five minutes away from where the firefighters had held their end-of-day briefing.
By then, the firefighters had reached the creek and Kirton’s driver alerted them that he had not returned.
Kirton eventually heard vehicle engines and saw the reflection of emergency lights, but the rescuers initially travelled in the wrong direction. He used the smoke as a reference point while speaking with Gouveia and directed the search party towards the black smoke.
The rescuers eventually reached the swamp and carefully plotted a route to avoid becoming trapped themselves.
“They pulled me out of that swamp with extraordinary care and precision and rushed me to the hospital,” Kirton said.
While trapped, he said, he thought about reports of jaguars preying on cattle and dogs in the area and of caimans inhabiting the swamps. He also began experiencing chest pains.
“For more than an hour, as darkness approached, I became increasingly fearful that my life might end there,” he wrote.
Kirton said the experience had deepened his faith and appreciation for prayer. He expressed concern about what he described as AI-generated photographs circulating on social media, saying those images risked diminishing the work of the actual people involved in the operation and his rescue.
“The firefighters were real. The GDF personnel were real. The police, ambulance personnel, 911 operators, doctors and nurses were real,” he said.
Kirton also thanked Gouveia, President Ali, his driver and the rescue team, along with the many persons who contacted and prayed for him and his family during the ordeal.
“There is no other way I can explain the fact that I am here today, able to write this statement, after what happened,” he said.
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