Rwanda National Police has taken steps to ensure more officials at different levels of admnistration are well-versed with fire-fighting techniques, twith the latest cohorts of trainees consisting of medical practitioners and employees at Nyamiyaga Health Centre.

Those trained at the Kamonyi-based health centre include doctors and support staff at the hospital. They were equipped with skills of preventing fire outbreaks and how to put out fire in case it breaks out.

They were also given skills on how to use fire extinguishers, sand and gadgets to put out a fire.

During the training session on Tuesday, the District Community Liaison Officer, Athanase Niyonagira, told about 25 medics to always take precaution to prevent fire, and intervene in time when it breaks out.

However, Niyonagira urged the trainees to always be quick to call Police for timely intervention, and not to intervene when the fire has escalated as it is too dangerous to fight with basic equipment.

"In most cases, fire outbreaks in buildings are caused by short circuits resulting from old or substandard installations and overloaded electric appliances, so always check such installations and switch off all electronics whenever you are away, not only here at the hospital but even in your homes,” said Niyonagira

He urged the trainees to always take the initiative to show people how they can contain the fire with available equipment before it could spread.

"After reporting to Police, you should ask people to evacuate the building immediately. Acting responsibly by taking precautions and strong partnership through timely information sharing can prevent fire outbreaks from taking lives and damaging property,” Niyonagira said.

He also urged them to help sensitise local residents about the causes of fires, so that they keep away from starting dangerous fires and noted some of the major causes of fire outbreaks as; faulty home appliances, and unattended candles.

The director of the health centre, Camille Nsabimana, thanked Rwanda National Police for extending the training to the hospital workers, adding that it will help in case of fire outbreaks.

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