By Wallace Mawire.
Harare. (News Of The South) – United Kingdom based fire service and humanitarian charity organisation, Operation Florian is helping to improve Zimbabwe’s fire fighting emergency services through provision of personnel training and equipment donation.
According to Shephard Ndlovu, a Senior Lecturer in Fire Safety Engineering at the University of Central Lancashire School of Engineering who hails from Zimbabwe, the project to support Zimbabwe’s fire fighting initiatives is his brainchild and Sevias Mugava, a Chief Fire Officer. The colleagues made contact with Operation Florian and a proposal was developed.
A team of trainers from UK has been visiting Zimbabwe under the leadership of Ndlovu, a Zimbabwean who is now domiciled in UK to celebrate the end of phase two of an extensive training programme at Harare Fire Brigade. An official hand over of equipment donated by Operation Florian which included fire-fighting vehicles was witnessed.
According to Ndlovu, Operation Florian has about 240 members who give their time free of charge.
“Operation Florian started in 1995, the organization was established to help and assist fire and emergency services throughout the world that are in need of assistance,” Ndhlovu said.
He added that at present the charity organization is running projects in Chile, Macedonia, Moldova, Portugal, Kenya and Zimbabwe.
The charity also brought twelve handpicked members selected to carry out the second phase of training in Zimbabwe. The trainers were drawn from different fire-fighting services from the United Kingdom.
The trainers included Christopher Tyler from South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service, Tanya Birtwell from Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service, Mark Watson from Fire Service College, Colin Herbst from Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue Service, Dave Barker-Redd from Kent Fire and Rescue and Fire Service College, Andrew Paul Cook from Cleveland Fire Brigade, David Alan Bradshaw from Cleveland Fire Brigade, Michael John Williamson from Cleveland Fire Brigade, Nicholas David Jones from Cleveland Fire Brigade and William James Hatfiled also from Cleveland Fire Brigade.
According to Ndhlovu, Operation Florian started working in Zimbabwe in the city of Bulawayo in 2010 and came back to the same city in 2011 to deliver equipment and to carry out training.
“From then on, the partnership between Operation Florian and Bulawayo City Council has grown. We have also trained fire fighters from other regions in Zimbabwe such as Masvingo Fire Brigade, Plumtree, Gwanda, Victoria Falls, Beitbridge, Zvishavane, Kadoma, Unki Mine in Shurugwi, Zimbabwe Power Corporation (ZPC) Hwange Power Station, Hwange Local Board and the Civil Aviation Authority of Zimbabwe.
“The vision and commitment of our mission is further enhanced by involving five other fire services organizations from the North of Zimbabwe to improve the fire capability and capacity in this new phase of training.
The main focus of the training will be on breathing apparatus and road traffic collision,” Ndhlovu said.
He added that on completion of the training, the organizations will receive a donation of equipment from Operation Florian.The fire fighting services to be targeted in Zimbabwe will include Chinhoyi Town Council, Chitungwiza City Council, Mutare City Council, Municipality of Chegutu and Marondera Town Council.
“We as a charity are here for the second time, this being phase two. We are committed to Zimbabwe in helping it improve its emergency services. Hopefully that will continue next year with the commitment of this partnership,” Ndhlovu said.
He added that his organization has also trained students on incident command, hazmat, community fire safety, technical fire safety and ambulance training.
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