27 Sep 2015

Tomorrowday Investments and Tutume Sub-district Council have teamed up to educate residents about fire fighting

Speaking during a recent workshop, Ms Maureen Mogorosi, a fire-fighter from the sub-council, said the objective of the workshop was to educate the public about ways to fight fires.   

She said there was need to reduce the risk and high number of fires through education and training. She also underscored the need to reduce deaths caused by fires, injuries and damage to property.

Theirs, she said, was to promote immediate effective assistance during accidents and teach the public about the responsibilities of a first aider.  

Ms Mogorosi said they had observed that many people had little or no knowledge about what to do when faced with situations, which might lead to loss of lives and damage to property.   

She stated that their aim was to host as many workshops as possible to teach the public about the importance of fire safety at home and work and also the need to know how to perform first aid.   

A colleague of Ms Mogorosi, Mr Badiredi Montlhabanedi explained that first aid was help given to an injured or sick person before proper medical help arrives, adding that it was done to preserve life and promote recovery as well as alleviate pain.  

He said the responsibilities of a first aider was to assess the situation, diagnose the disease and injuries, give immediate, appropriate and adequate treatment and to arrange for hospital or doctor without delay.   

Mr Montlhabanedi said a first aider should be able to identify different types of injuries and how to treat them, explaining that wrong treatment might cause more harm to the injury.   

He stated that an injured person should be treated for shock, be kept warm, reassured while working effectively and gently, noting that safety should be practiced at all times by wearing gloves.    

He said the basic prevention of fire was to keep fuel and heat sources apart.    In addition, he said to achieve this at home or work place, good housekeeping must be practiced.  

Mr Montlhabanedi said common causes of fire were people, electricity, chemical reaction, spontaneous combustion and arson.    Mr Montlhabanedi said  fire extinguishers should be inspected and refilled after every use regardless of how much contents were used.   

He advised them to elect a fire marshall, who would be responsible for people’s safety during emergencies, maintenance of fire equipment and organise staff training programmes.  

Mr Batanani Chidzani, who is the marketing manager of Tomorrowday Investments, said the main aim of hosting the workshop was to equip their tenants with the right information about fire safety and first aid so they could know what to do when faced with the situation.  

He said they had fire equipment and first aid kits in all their buildings and he felt that people should know how to use them. Mr Chidzani encouraged other business people to host such workshops for their employers, saying that everyone should be involved in fire safety.   

He stated that they will continue working with the fire department and conduct more workshops in future to ensure safety at the work place. ENDS