By Joyce Remi-Babayeju
The Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development through the Department of Humanitarian Affairs has trained it’s staff in an In- house fire awareness/prevention training evacuation drill at the Federal Secretariat Complex, phase 1 Abuja.
Deputy Director Disaster Management to, Dr. Abubakar Suleiman who represented the Minister, Sadiya Farouq, said that the training was centred around learning about fire hazards/fire equipments and how to mitigate fire in our homes and offices.
The Minister reminded the participants of the 2020 Evacuation drill and the positive impact it had on the trainees in particular and the Ministry in general.
She said that the demonstration on how to use various fire equipments will remind the participants how to handle and be conversant with the equipments, how it works and what is expected of them in emergency situations inorder to mitigate hazards/disasters.
Farouq emphasized on the need for the participants to be attentive and derive benefits from the training.
The instructor from the Federal Fire Service, DSF Amosa Alade Matthew, stated that safety cannot be over- emphasized because fire does not respect anybody and that fire is produced when substance combine with oxygen in the presence of heat.
Matthew enumerated the three components that make up fire as fuel, heat and oxygen and opined that disaster, fire incident occurs as a result of man’s action and inaction and that the first priority in case of any disaster is to save lives before any other consideration.
According to him prevention of fire is of utmost importance and should be guarded against as only 16 percent out of the 25 percent of oxygen present can ignite fire if not properly handled.
Matthew reminded the participants that 60 percent of fire outbreaks in the offices are due to Air Conditioners which in most cases stems from overuse and advised that electrical appliances should be switched off when leaving the house or office in case of power surge. He also enjoined participants to patronize electrical experts if there is problem with appliances.
He outlined the steps to handle fire outbreaks in emergency situations to include: Raising an alarm, Evacuate from the environment/building, Call the fire service and if it is safe then start fighting the fire. He gave the fire service numbers as 122, 112.
He reeled out the classes of fire as A, B, C etc and the types of fire extinguishers that can be used to extinguish the fire.
The high point of the training was the practical demonstrations of the various fire evacuation drill and how to use various fire extinguishers to extinguish fire to the participants by officers of the Federal Fire Service.
Participants at the training were Director Humanitarian Affairs, Alhaji Ali Grema and trainees drawn from the various departments of the Ministry.
