Much needed manuals were presented to the Barbados Fire Service recently by SOL Barbados Limited.

The manuals or handbooks, which are the latest ones produced by the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) based in the United States, contain relevant information on new toxins and substances and what materials will extinguish fires.

General manager, South Caribbean, of SOL, Roger Bryan, said his company was committed to the Fire Service and that the handbooks would go a long way in the continual education of the officers.

He said there were nine volumes and each station in Barbados would get a set of them.

Bryan said the Fire Service had trained the staff at SOL and they had a close working relationship.

Chief fire officer Chesterfield Mayers said that recently five officers had returned from the United States with an Associate degree in fire technology.

Mayers said while much of the training was done in Canada and the United States, there was a still a lot done in-house, and next month a supervisor's programme would begin. Deputy chief fire officer Anthony Blackman, who thanked SOL for the gift, said the last set of NFPA manuals the service had was outdated, and that the donation showed great foresight on the part of SOL. (WB)

Source: The Nation Newspaper - April 9, 2008