UENR ends pilot training on fire and disaster management

The University of Energy and Natural Resources (UENR) has ended a pilot training on fire and disaster management in Sunyani.

The six-day training, formed part of the University’s fire curriculum development project, and was attended by 60 participants from stakeholder and related organizations across the country.

It was a joint effort of local and international partners comprising UENR, Ghana National Fire Service, National Disaster Management Organisation, Resource Management Support Centre of the Forestry Commission, Forestry Research Institute of Ghana under the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), the Canadian Forestry Service and the CSIR Meraka Institute of South Africa.

A statement signed by Dr, Amos T. Kabo-bah, a lecturer at UENR who is the Project Manager, and copied to the Ghana News Agency in Sunyani, said the project, spanning one year, was being funded by the Skills Development Fund (SDF) under the Council for Tertiary and Vocational Education and Training (COTVET).

As part of the project, Virtual Fire Laboratory with the most Advanced Fire Information System (AFIS), has been established at the University Campus, the statement said, and added that “it is the third of its kind in Africa after South Africa and Kenya”.

“The AFIS is a satellite-based fire information tool that provides near real time fire information to users across the globe and the installed system at UENR will provide relevant real fire information to the whole of West Africa,” the statement explained.

It said the training was in three levels of basic, intermediate and advanced, and covered topics like: “Introduction to Disasters”, “Fire Safety”, “Overview of other disasters and Introduction to Disaster Management for the basic level”.

The rest were “Fire Dynamics and Prevention Disaster Education”, “Communication, Public Awareness and Intermediate Fire and Disaster Management for the intermediate level” as well as “Emergency Services and Management and the Role of Technology in Fire and Disaster Management for the advanced level”, the statement concluded.