January 30, 2017:‘Educational, refreshing, very good, comprehensive’ were the words used by participants of the just concluded ‘Wildfire Suppression Organization and Safety Workshop’, hosted by the Forestry Division of the Ministry of Agriculture, Land and Fisheries at the San Fernando Hill National Landmark, San Fernando from Monday 23rd– 27th January, 2017.
Setting the tone for the session at the Opening Ceremony hosted on Monday 23rd January, Senator the Honourable Clarence Rambharat, Minister of Agriculture, Land and Fisheries shared that he was ‘intimately involved in almost every hour of planning that went into preparing for this workshop’ as he will ‘take a deep interest in what will happen over the coming week and thereafter’. He put the workshop into context with the words‘long before March 25th 2016 when we lost Keith Campbell, I was personally extremely concerned not only about the fire response of the Forestry Division but also about the issue of health and safety in the Ministry’, reiterating that a Health and Safety policy in all Ministries is important, particularly for those whose employees face daily risks.
Noting that it was important for the role of the Forestry Division to be clearly identified as it relates to responding to fires, extensive discussions were had among key stakeholder organisations on ‘developing the appropriate expertise in this country and the appropriate policies and legislative framework so that we can place Forestry’s role on an extremely secure footing in terms of response to forest and bush fires in particularly’.
He also urged the participants to develop a ‘culture of lessons learnt, and sharing those lessons out of good and bad experiences so that it improves our response time and the quality of our future response time’.
Mr. Dave Samayah, Assistant Conservator of Forests and Head – Fire Unit, Forestry Division described the workshop as a ‘tremendous success’, saying that‘workers are excited about what they learnt and what they plan to implement’. Participants expressed appreciation for the interactive, practical and hands-on sessions, and plan to utilize what they learnt in the areas of fire assessment, looking at the different dangers, increasing communications among the workers on the field, to work more as a team, and mopping up operations.
The week-long workshop was facilitated by three experts in the area, namely Mr. Blane Heumann, Director of Fire Management, The Nature Conservancy, Missouri; and Mr. Richard Anderson, Fire Management & Fire Ecology Consultant and Mr. Mario Muschamp, Protected Areas Manager, both of Toledo Institute for Development and Environment. This training was deemed pertinent in the context of an ongoing increase in the loss of vegetative cover, coupled with fatalities experienced in the Forestry Division’s suppression efforts. One major objective of the training was to ensure that staff can effectively deal with the present incidence of wildfires and to prepare for the future. Topics covered were integrated fire management; Leadership incident command; basic firefighter preparedness, weather, communications, basic ICS; Organization Chain of Command, Safety, Working as a squad.
The team was welcomed and hosted by His Worship the Mayor of San Fernando, Alderman Junia Regrello. Other speakers at the Opening Ceremony were Dr. Lystra Fletcher-Paul, Representative, Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations; Mr. Blane Heumann, Director of Fire Management, The Nature Conservancy; and Mr. John Radgman, Conservator of Forests, Forestry Division.
Members of the Head Table.
Cross-section of the audience at the event.
Senator Avinash Singh and NAMDEVCO CEO Ayoub Mohammed in agri talks.
For further information please contact:
The Communications and Events Unit
Ministry of Agriculture, Land and Fisheries
868-622-1221