A dozen firefighters have started a two-week training of trainers course to enhance their knowledge and better equip them with new skills for them to be able to train new firefighters.

The training, which is taking place at the Maritime Training Centre at Providence, is being led by Dirk Moller, a fire instructor expert from the Emergency Training Solutions (ETS) based in South Africa.

It has been organised by the Seychelles Fire and Rescue Services Agency (SFRSA) and it is in line with its continuing effort to upgrade the standard and quality of its personnel in delivering more professional services.

The SFRSA divisional officer Regis Bethew launched the first training of its kind to be organised here.
The course is considered very important as it will enable the SFRSA to continuously train its personnel to make them more professional and independent.

Addressing the officers taking part in the course, Mr Bethew noted that organising such a course is “clear evidence of the intention of the SFRSA to ensure the ongoing development and scope of its training strategy”.

“Sometimes it is so easy for an officer to say I can train others just because I am a senior fire officer with knowledge and experience but there is much more to that,” he pointed out.

He called on the officers to make the most of the training because like teachers they should be conscious that their fellow firefighters will look up to them and rely on them and they should always be at the forefront to safeguard the agency’s continuity and professionalism.

Mr Moller said after the training the officers are expected to be more confident in teaching the practical aspects of firefighting, standing more confidently in front of their subordinates to make presentations and be able to display other essential personal skills and techniques.

“Because we are firemen and we do our job well we tend to think we are also trainers which is not the case,” Mr Moller stressed.

At the beginning of last month another group of firefighters followed a course in fire incidence command again conducted by another instructor from ETS, Dennis Locker.