GOVERNMENT has assigned the Bulawayo Fire Brigade to train firefighters in the southern region of the country.
In an interview with NewsDay yesterday, Bulawayo City Council (BCC) acting chief fire officer Mhlangano Moyo said they were given the green light to start the training exercise late last year.
He said the programme would cover all rural district councils (RDCs) including Matobo, Hwange, Tsholotsho, Kusile, Insiza and Bulilima, among others.
“As of now, we have collected the Red Lion fire engines for the RDCs at Famona. We are yet to conduct medical tests and interviews with selected candidates,” Moyo said.
He said they had state-of-the-art equipment, adding that it was among the best.
Matobo RDC chief executive Alvis Sibanda confirmed that they have started a recruitment exercise for firefighters
“We recently posted an advert for recruitment and training will start in April,” he said.
Meanwhile, Moyo warned residents against tampering safety systems in buildings.
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“One can find hose reel drums covered by clothes. Buildings that used to house 30 people now have 300 people with one entrance which compromises safety.
“The brigade has challenges due to the water shedding programme. However, we have since changed the approach by using small nozzles at high pressure.
“There is also vandalism of fire hydrants although we have mapped them on our Geographic Information System database as a mitigation strategy.
“On staff issues, we are trying to motivate them on non-monetary value issues but they continue leaving because of demand in Asian countries, that are Saudi Arabia, Qatar and of late Kuwaiti has joined in. All that shows the credibility of our crew technical-wise.”.
He said the fire brigade had scaled up its approach to technical issues sizing up incidents and beefing up personnel management on fire calls.
