Firefighters gear up to better manage crisis |04 September 2013

How to better manage emergencies is the aim of a follow-up training that a group of firefighters is attending.

For the past two years the Seychelles Fire and Rescue Services Agency (SFRSA) has been organising courses to upgrade the standard and quality of its staff so that they can deliver a more professional service. An Incident Command course was one of the courses that were delivered at intermediate level in 2012 for 12 staff members.

This year, this same group is being given the chance to better their understanding of the subject through an Advance Incident Command course.

The five-day course which opened on Monday at the Maritime Training Centre at Providence is being facilitated by Dennis Locker from the Emergency Training Services (ETS) of South Africa.

The training encompasses subjects such as incident command advance level, hazardous materials/weapons of mass destruction (WMD) incident command, major fire indents command, wild bush fires incident, multi casualty incident command, structural collapse incident command and also highway incident command.

Mr Locker pointed out that these courses will allow the officers to be better equipped to manage the different incidents they are faced with.

SFRSA officer Jones Madeleine pointed out in his speech on behalf of the Chief Fire Officer that “the leading role and decision to make in an emergency is a vital point to remember, and consider your decision as a priority in an incident especially when there is a mass casualty or the fire threatening an immense area.  Always remember it takes only a small matchstick or a spark to start a fire and this leads to a catastrophe”.

He also pointed out that the “incident course has brought us to a new avenue, meaning a new way of thinking, organising and planning out emergency incidents”.

Mr Locker addressing the participants at the start of the training on Monday