|
|
|
|
|
24 February 2023
|
Western Cape fire officers finish Fundamentals of Fire Investigation course
|
|
The Western Cape Department of Local Government through the Chief Directorate Disaster Management and Fire and Rescue Services sponsored fire officers from various municipalities throughout the province on a Fundamentals of Fire Investigation Course, presented by the Institution of Fire Engineers Southern Africa (IFE SA). The course took place in February 2023 over a period of five days broken down into three days online and two days practical at the Epping Fire Training Academy in Cape Town.
The original concept of the professional qualification standards was to develop an interrelated set of performance standards specifically for the fire service. The various levels of achievement in the standards were to build on each other within a strictly defined career ladder. Revisions of the standards recognised that the documents should stand on their own merit in terms of job performance requirements for a given field.
The purpose of this training is to specify the minimum job performance requirements for serving as a fire investigator in the non-wildfire environment.
The Institution of Fire Engineers Southern Africa’s Fundamentals of Fire Investigation course is one of the units that make up the Certified Fire Safety Officer Development Programme. The overall programme will give the participant the ability and knowledge to perform the duties of a fire safety officer at basic level.
The programme is benchmarked against an International standard and incorporates South African legislative requirements. The courses are designed around class attendance, online or in person course dependant, practical and written exercises, written assessments and practical evaluations.
This particular course was conducted in a hybrid format, with both online and face-to-face classes. Students from Botswana, Durban and Cape Town were able to attend the course. The first three days were held online with lectures via Zoom, practical exercise, as well as the access to the online platform for additional reading, the tutorials and assessments.
The next two days were conducted at Epping Fire Station Training Centre for Cape Town students and then at the Modderfontein Fire Training Centre for the other students. During this time the students were given a fire scenario which fitted the scene they needed to investigate.
Each team attended a simulated fire scene in which they had to conduct a fire investigation to determine the cause of the fire while applying everything they had learned throughout the course. Students were then given the opportunity to speak with witnesses who were on the scene during the fire. This provided them with more information to help them determine the cause of the fire.
After the teams had reached an agreement on their investigation outcome, they were able to participate in a mock court case involving the fire scene that they had investigated.
The Western Cape Teams were:
Team 1: Cape Town included CFO Deon Stoffels of Garden Route District Municipality, Ludwig Nisbet of City of Cape Town, Peter Tau of Swartland Municipality and Ricardo Witbooi of Swartland Municipality.
Team 2: Cape Town included George Hendricks of City of Cape Town, Ryno van Harte of Swartland Municipality, Johannes Marais of Swartland Municipality, Morne Stuurman of Garden Route District Municipality and Brazavier Pienaar of Swartland Municipality.
Sources: Western Cape Department of Local Government, IFE SA
The original concept of the professional qualification standards was to develop an interrelated set of performance standards specifically for the fire service. The various levels of achievement in the standards were to build on each other within a strictly defined career ladder. Revisions of the standards recognised that the documents should stand on their own merit in terms of job performance requirements for a given field.
The purpose of this training is to specify the minimum job performance requirements for serving as a fire investigator in the non-wildfire environment.
The Institution of Fire Engineers Southern Africa’s Fundamentals of Fire Investigation course is one of the units that make up the Certified Fire Safety Officer Development Programme. The overall programme will give the participant the ability and knowledge to perform the duties of a fire safety officer at basic level.
The programme is benchmarked against an International standard and incorporates South African legislative requirements. The courses are designed around class attendance, online or in person course dependant, practical and written exercises, written assessments and practical evaluations.
This particular course was conducted in a hybrid format, with both online and face-to-face classes. Students from Botswana, Durban and Cape Town were able to attend the course. The first three days were held online with lectures via Zoom, practical exercise, as well as the access to the online platform for additional reading, the tutorials and assessments.
The next two days were conducted at Epping Fire Station Training Centre for Cape Town students and then at the Modderfontein Fire Training Centre for the other students. During this time the students were given a fire scenario which fitted the scene they needed to investigate.
Each team attended a simulated fire scene in which they had to conduct a fire investigation to determine the cause of the fire while applying everything they had learned throughout the course. Students were then given the opportunity to speak with witnesses who were on the scene during the fire. This provided them with more information to help them determine the cause of the fire.
After the teams had reached an agreement on their investigation outcome, they were able to participate in a mock court case involving the fire scene that they had investigated.
The Western Cape Teams were:
Team 1: Cape Town included CFO Deon Stoffels of Garden Route District Municipality, Ludwig Nisbet of City of Cape Town, Peter Tau of Swartland Municipality and Ricardo Witbooi of Swartland Municipality.
Team 2: Cape Town included George Hendricks of City of Cape Town, Ryno van Harte of Swartland Municipality, Johannes Marais of Swartland Municipality, Morne Stuurman of Garden Route District Municipality and Brazavier Pienaar of Swartland Municipality.
Sources: Western Cape Department of Local Government, IFE SA
