Solidar Suisse agents in Burkina Faso benefited from a fire safety and first aid training session on April 1, 2016 in Ouagadougou. Drivers in particular were the most concerned by this training. This is because they are always driving their colleagues on missions. This training aims to guarantee them a minimum of safety, especially in the event of fire.
For Ms. BERE Célestine, Head of the Democracy and Participation Division at Solidar Suisse in Burkina, their main expectation at the end of this training course is that participants will acquire knowledge that will enable them to secure their working environment and save lives in the event of an incident.
First of all, Mr. Gustave NAKO, Fire Safety and First Aid Consultant and trainer, informed participants that the dangers of fire are a threat to human development and fulfillment.
He also went back over the various fires Burkina Faso has experienced. According to him, between January and February 2016, 23 cases of fire were recorded; in July 2015, the SONABEL headquarters was the victim of a fire, etc.
These cases illustrate that anyone or any department can be confronted with a fire situation. Prevention is better than cure, and Mr. NAKO adds that preventing a risk means preventing it from happening in the first place.
Once the theoretical phase was over, Solidar’s agents went out into the field to apply what they had heard and retained.
The agents followed the practical demonstrations attentively, and took it in turns to perform fire extinguishing simulations.
“I’m really pleased to have benefited from the training. We are now seasoned and ready to deal with any eventuality concerning fires,” confided Mr. Joseph KABORE, Logistics Manager at Solidar Suisse Burkina.
For KOANDA Amidou, a driver with Solidar Suisse, the fire safety training course was a great help because, as a driver, he’s always on the move and sometimes returns to the bush. As danger doesn’t anticipate before it sets in, he can come across cases of fire, but the training has enabled him to know how to deal with them, so he can only be proud of it.
“Before, we didn’t know how to behave when faced with a fire, but this training has taught us the different rules for extinguishing fires. It will be really useful to us, because in the event of a problem we know how to behave before calling those who are authorized to deal with such disasters”, says Mr. Hamidou ILBOUDO, janitor at Solidar Suisse.
As for Mr. ILBOUDO Saidou, in charge of monitoring and evaluation at Solidar Suisse, the training was very important for him, as it’s the first time he’s taken part in a training course of this kind, and he now knows what an extinguisher is and how to use it. If a fire does break out, he knows how to control it to avoid damage.
However, the Solidar Suisse agents who took part in this training course remembered for good the magic formula taught to them by Mr. Nako from Burval incendie: “First unhook your extinguisher, remove the safety pin. Then depress the striker and take the extinguisher hose, check that the extinguisher is not empty, and activate so as to spray the base of the flames.”