FireFighters in 'Collapse Zone'

The National Fire Authority (NFA) does not have the manpower to fully control fires in Fiji.

It is in dire need of help, said its chief executive officer Puamau Sowane.

He said the ongoing number of NFA personnel resigning now put the ratio of one firefighter to 1463 people in Fiji. It has placed the organisation in a collapse zone.

Mr Sowane said considering Fiji’s population of 884,887 in the last census in 2017, the ratio was one firefighter to 1463 people.

“If you do a simple math to spread 605 firefighters to 21 stations, it comes to 29 firefighters per station for three shifts and it is about nine to 10 firefighters per shift, but this is not the case,” Mr Sowane said.

“Suva Fire Station manning would be more than any other stations, which will have about 16 to 18 per shift, leaving other stations short.”

He said Suva, Lautoka, and Labasa had more people compared to the rest of the stations, depending on the fire tenders (trucks) available at each station.

Migration of firefighters

“Right now, NFA is operating under its minimum manning and in some stations, we are operating below the minimum manning,” Mr Sowane said.

He said now NFA had 605 firefighters manning 21 fire stations in the country.

Last year, NFA recruited 82 new firefighters. To date, NFA still receives resignations of firefighters who have decided to move abroad for work.

“It’s not a bad thing to have our people move abroad. It is an indicator that our people are recognised in Australia and New Zealand labour markets,” he said.

He said for them to move across and find work abroad create job opportunity to youths in Fiji who are interested in joining NFA.

Request for more budget

Mr Sowane said NFA budget largely depended on money collected from its revenue streams.

“As much as we wanted to carry out our recruitment on a yearly basis, we don’t have the luxury of having a special budget from the central government like police, army, and navy for recruitment,” Mr Sowane said.

Talking about the 605 firefighters, he said not all of them were involved directly in emergency operations.

They also have a fire safety department that looks after fire safety investigation, inspections, community engagement and awareness.

“I have discussed with our line minister the importance of Government honouring its contributions of 25 per cent towards our annual operating budget.

“This will assist us in recruiting the correct number of firefighters throughout Fiji. The biggest challenge comes during disaster when we require more hands when we receive emergency calls from members of the public emergency rescue, and city, and town council for clearing and washing flood debris.”

Collapse Zone in fire fighting means the area around a structure that contain debris if the building is to collapse.

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