Tourism Fire Fighting and Prevention Course

Twelve staff members from Beachfront Resort in Luganville plus staff from Deco Stop Lodge and Santo Gas participated in a fire fighting and prevention course conducted at the Vanuatu Maritime College (VMC).

The brainchild of Dave Cross from Beachfront Resort and Peter Petherbrige of VMC the half day programme is divided into two sections. The academic portion in the classroom is a discussion on the ‘life’ of a fire and its critical elements. This also includes introduction to the various types of fire extinguishers available, use of hoses and fire blankets and more importantly examination of how to prevent fires starting in the first place.

All academic material for the course is produced in Bislama.

Guest security and accountability are vital aspects of managing a fire in a tourist facility as safety and well being is of the utmost importance in duty of care to our clients.

The second section of the course is actually fighting fires. The group extinguished paper fires, cooking oil fires, marzut fires in the open, marzut fires in confined smoky environments and also control and extinguishing of LPG gas cylinder fires and let me tell you, that is very scary!

Powder extinguishers, water hoses, fire blankets and common sense were all employed in controlling the various fires.

Vanuatu Maritime College also offer an advisory service to visit and review fire hazards and prevention strategies at any business in Luganville whether tourism based or not.

Although this programme was designed primarily for the tourism industry it can be used for any business that is serious in preventing loss of life and property through fire.

For further information about this course, and other courses planned for the future, please contact Dave Cross - or Captain John Lloyd VMC on 36547