By TAMARA DELANEY

Freeport News Reporter

tdelaney@nasguard.com

Workers from Grand Bahama's top rescue services yesterday participated in a training programme on fire-fighting techniques and the protection of the environment conducted by the United States Embassy and the Nature Conservation Group out of Florida at Police Headquarters and Police Fire Station.

Members of the Police Fire Services Department, The Grand Bahama Port Authority, Medical Services and Rand Security Emergency, Freeport Container Port and the Airport Crash and Rescue were presented with several courses at the headquarters, which included Fire Extinguisher Theory and Disaster Manage-ment Theory.

Introduced to fundamentals of firefighting, the workers then got first-hand knowledge of fire safety and conduct through a fire demonstration at the fire station.

"The workers will be trained by going into the forest and they will be capable of burning off the overgrowth of the forest before it becomes a major fire. They will be able to go into their communities and teach other individuals about fire safety and disaster preparedness," said SGT 1106 Doyle Burrows of the Royal Bahamas Police Force Fire Services.

Participating in the fire demonstration, the highlight of the training procedure, Burrows said fire services is grateful for the fact that a great cross-section of individuals can be reached through training.

"We are grateful to the U.S. Embassy and the Conservancy for assisting us in putting on these type of programmes because locally, we do it through our fire prevention but we still don't meet the masses, so this training can hopefully reach more than we normally do," he said.

Sponsored by the United States Southern Command, the fire training is part of a three-phase programme which began in Nassau and continued in Abaco.

All three of the phases featured a review of fire techniques with firefighters from United Estates as well as a Cardiopulmonary Resusci-tation (CPR) segment.

Bringing in various rescue service workers from most of the family islands to take part in the training, the programme was brought to Grand Bahama to stress fire safety within a community from a fire and the preparation one can take to prevent it.

Nancy Benette, humanitarian assistant and disaster preparedness programme manager with the U.S. Embassy, said the training programme acts as a liaison for professionals and the public.

"This course is all about exchanging skills with professionals and people of the community because sometimes we may not be the first responders at a disaster or emergency," Benette said. "This course allows us to carry our knowledge to other people so that it may help them."

Benette revealed that the U.S. Embassy is trying to develop core personnel within the family islands to continue fire technique training.

She said that there are plans to have another programme for next year which will be geared toward the schools and hotels.

"These are basic firefighter training techniques and CPR training which is important for everyone to learn," she said. "We can help ourselves by trying to build the capacity of the community to help each other."

TRAILBLAZING COURSE — Workers from the Police Fire Services Department, The Grand Bahama Port Authority, Medical Services and Rand Security Emergency, Freeport Container Port and the Airport Crash and Rescue, stood alongside members of the U.S. Embassy and Nature Conservative Group at the Police Fire Station. The workers took part in a three-day basic Fire Technique Training and Nature Conservancy course, which includes Fire Extinguisher Theory, Disaster Management Theory and Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation.(Photo by TAMARA DELANEY)