Fire and rescue’s top personnel rewarded |26 December 2012

Currently having some 125 personnel including six women, the agency based mainly at Victoria, the Seychelles International Airport and Praslin airport, plans to decentralise with sub-stations already being built at La Digue and Eve Island at Baie Ste Anne Praslin next year.

The presentation ceremony was attended by the agency’s chief executive Andre Morel, his deputy Albert Rose and the chief executive of the Department of Disaster and Risk Management (DRDM) Paul Labaleine.

The cup for outstanding employee was won by station officer Jones Madeleine, who also proposed a vote of thanks at the end of the presentation of certificates.

The presentation was marked by the live appearance of top artists, notably Joe Samy, Jany De Létourdie, Jean Ally, Joenise Juliette and Berno Cedras, while Latroup Lazenes also had a spectacular performance for the officers and their spouses. A surprise not on the programme was a performance by Sandra, one of Seychelles’ youngest and outstanding female artists.

Mr Morel said training is always a priority for the agency as knowledge and skills have to be regularly updated to better serve the community with efficiency.

He said given Seychelles’ rapid development in tourism, fisheries and leisure boats as well as housing, the Seychelles Fire and Rescue Services Agency is coming under increasing pressure to help the community in emergencies.

Mr Morel noted that of the six main courses attended by its officers this year three were facilitated by trainers from South Africa who have had long experience in fire fighting. The courses were of one and two-week duration.

He later told Nation that some officers had also been to South Africa for more advanced training, but it works out cheaper getting a trainer coming here as he can train a high number of personnel at one go.

The courses benefitting from South African expertise at local level  are the incident commander course where the top performer was Joe Gabriel, who also excelled in English proficiency (a course conducted by Aldec), the fire prevention course with Terence Arnephy coming out top and the fire investigation where Hudson Nanon was the best performer.

The two other courses were for leadership and health and safety, both of which saw Jason Labrosse coming out top.

Certificates were also presented to the administration, human resources, storekeeping and other auxiliary staff.