60 Fire officers undergo HAZMAT training

Sixty officers from the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) and the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) have converged on Accra to undergo a five-day intensive training in hazardous materials (HAZMAT) handling.

The officers, five from NADMO and 55 from the GNFS, will be trained on HAZMAT transport, personal protective equipment practices, containment, early warning, site management, blocking and decontamination.

The five-day training is under the HAZMAT Knowledge Exchange Programme which is a partnership between the GNFS and the North Dakota National Guard State under the auspices of the Office of the Secretary Cooperation (OSC) in the United States.

At a ceremony to officially open the five-day training programme, the  National Chief Fire Officer, Julius Kuunuor, said the knowledge of hazardous materials and their handling was a fairly new area that required a lot of attention due to the country's industrialisation drive and issues from neighbouring countries which raised a lot of safety concerns.

"As Ghana continues to develop, with industrialisation drive at the top of its development agenda, this nation needs a Ghana National Fire Service that will be prepared to contain any excesses that may result from this positive course of development," he said.

He further noted that inappropriate handling and transportation of hazardous materials caused destruction which called for the training of officers to build their capacity and preparedness.

He charged the participating officers to give the training the attention and seriousness it deserved for successful outcomes.

"It is our hope that you will be worthy ambassadors who will propagate your experience here to your colleagues when you go back to your various stations," the CFO added.

Experience

The leader of the delegation from North Dakota, Captain (CPT) Jacob Sommerfeld, said his team was equipped and ready with a wide range of experience to share.

 “We want to make sure that we answer all questions very thoroughly, give you some advanced training and make sure that everybody walks away with the same understanding of how to take care of yourself and how to respond to emergencies and medical care,” he said.