Fire fighters receive their certificates of competence

MBOMBELA – A group of 22 energetic young firefighters from all over the country were honoured with certificates for work well done during their 43 days of hard training at Mbombela Working on Fire.

According to Mr Steven Alderson, the leadership and development manager, graduates received certificates in Type One and another group would receive their Type Two certificates this week.

He said this was part of Working on Fire’s skills development and human upliftment programme aimed at providing skills to the unemployed needy youth of the country.

“We take them from the grass roots level, train and employ them and give them a chance to develop. We want to see them occupying senior positions in other departments as well,” he said.

The target this year was to train more than 100 for the Type One course and 200 for Type Two.

Alderson indicated that training involved a lot of physical work as well as theory,

“Part of the training includes a walk of five to eight hours every Sunday, running twice a week and a compulsory 12 subjects to pass in six weeks.” “They sometimes wake up in the middle of the night to attend to a fire. They must know their tools, make sure it is in a working condition and be able to fix them.” Initially 43 candidates were sent for training but only 22 graduated. “Those who failed were sent back, although they can try again next year. We want only the best because firefighting is not an easy job, it requires determination and hard work and one has to pass all the subjects.”

Mr Fred Mogope urged the graduates to have a positive attitude and to promote teamwork in their areas. “It ensures that everyone understands his or her role clearly, you have to listen to people and learn from your mistakes,” he said, to the candidates.

“If you don’t work as a team you won’t be able to suppress even the smallest fire and it will turn into a disaster.”

So far the graduates stand a good chance of being employed as group leaders in their regions.

The best student came from Mokopane in Limpopo. He had been working as a firefighter for two years and believed his new skills will open doors for him and enable him to get a senior position.

“I’ve been working hard for this, I did extra studies at night and carried my books everywhere, even during guard duties.”

He was awarded a certificate of overall achievement and received 99 per cent in his practical work and also excelled in theory.