Following on from the charity’s success in Bulawayo, a team of 6 Operation Florian members set off on a mission for Harare, Zimbabwe, in September 2014 to conduct training for the Harare Fire and Ambulance Service.

Following on from the charity’s success in Bulawayo, a team of 6 Operation Florian members set off on a mission for Harare, Zimbabwe, in September 2014 to conduct training for the Harare Fire and Ambulance Service. The Phase 1 Mission in the capital Harare has developed as a result of the successful partnership with City of Bulawayo which began in 2011. The Harare project was seen as a natural continuation of the charity’s activities in Zimbabwe presenting an opportunity to increase partnerships with the fire service to deliver an effective service to the largest community in the country.

The Florian team spent two weeks in the Zimbabwe captial conducting training 

The project is further enhanced by support from Cleveland Fire Brigade in supporting their personnel and encouraging the relationship that already exists between Operation Florian, Cleveland Fire Brigade and Harare Fire Brigade. 

Training included courses on Road Traffic Collision and Breathing Apparatus

The aim of the partnership with the international humanitarian charity and Cleveland Fire Brigade is to help provide fire equipment and training to the Harare Fire and Ambulance Service who have limited funding for equipment and as a result often turn up to incidents with inadequate equipment to deal with the situation. All involved are seeking to make a real difference to both the Harare Fire and Ambulance Service and the local community. This new five year partnership offers great opportunities to Harare Fire and Ambulance Service in terms of equipment and training. The demonstration of the model within this project will hopefully show that commitment from the partnership will give confidence to others within Zimbabwe of what can be achieved.  

The project in Harare has developed as a result of Florian’s success in Bulawayo

The training course commenced on the 15^th September 2014, based at Harare Central Fire Station, which also houses the Service Headquarters. The intensive two week training programme covered the following courses: breathing apparatus and road traffic collision rescue training.

At the end of the training programme an official passing out parade and handover ceremony took place at Harare Central Fire Station HQ. The event was hosted by Harare City Council and the Mayor, a number of the City Councillors, Heads of departments, and VIPs attended the function along with members of commerce, industry and the media.  Clearly indicated by the content of the speeches there was also a genuine willingness and hope that the relationship with Operation Florian would continue and that there will be a Phase 2 mission in 2015. This next mission would possibly include courses such as: Community Fire Safety, Incident Command, Technical Fire Safety, Breathing Apparatus, Road Traffic Collision.