The Federal Fire Service (FFS) has enjoined Nigerians to take advantage of the domestic fire safety trainings in its academies to help curb domestic fire incidents.
Its Controller-General (CG), Mr Ibrahim Liman, gave the advice on Sunday while inspecting the building site of the FFS Zone C Command under construction in Bauchi State.
The CG encouraged Nigerians to avail themselves of the knowledge and skills of fire fighting to be able to prevent and curtail domestic fire outbreaks before the arrival of the fire service to the scene.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that aside from the national fire academy in Abuja, the FFS has other training schools in Lagos, Maiduguri, Ilorin, Katsina, Ileana, Abia and Calabar.
“We want to train our colleagues from the West African region. We want to train everyone on fire fighting.
“The national fire academy has been upgraded and we can have international students.”
Liman said that efforts were being made to establish fire stations in all senatorial districts in the country.
“We are working towards properly equipping the zonal training schools to standard so that we can train our staff at the federal and state levels, on new techniques of combating fire outbreaks.
“If the 2021 budget favours us, we will award contracts for new zonal offices.
“The North-East zonal office will be in Yola, Minna will host the North-Central, Sokoto, North-West, Owerri, South-East, Asaba, South-South, while Osogbo will host the South-West zonal office.
The CG applauded men of the Bauchi State fire service and the FFS state command for the quick response to fire outbreaks.
He said that plans were ongoing to ensure training of fire men as it was observed that many had not undergone refresher trainings since their call to service.
Liman urged the state fire men to continue to support the FFS to achieve the mandate of attending to fire outbreaks on time so as to save lives and properties.
In his remarks, Mr Ishayah Dadi, Director, Bauchi State Fire Service, appealed for modern fire fighting trucks in addition to training of firefighters on new fire safety approaches.
Dadi also advocated better welfare for staff at the state level to motivate them for optimal performance.
