The smallest fire in a high-rise building could lead to a catastrophic disaster, therefore, whenever a call for a fire in a high-rise building comes in, it is all hands on deck for the firefighters as they do not take any chances, director of the Civil Protection Department (CPD) Peter Paul Coleiro said.
“Because fire has the tendency to rise up, any fire can be catastrophic… whether it’s a small fire or whether it’s a bigger fire our reaction is very aggressive. We don’t take chances,” Coleiro told The Malta Independent on Sunday.
New high-rises are propping up all over Malta and bring with them new challenges for the CPD which must give extra attention to any fires that might happen in these buildings.
When discussing the threat of high-rises, Coleiro said that as long as all the buildings have the proper fire safety systems in place and they are well maintained, there should not be a problem. There are standards that these buildings need to follow and for the most part, he said that these are followed.
Since high-rises are fairly new to Maltese firefighters, Coleiro said that training on how to fight a fire in a high-rise building was offered to the firefighters and all the officials.
Currently, the CPD has around 260 firefighters and they aim to increase this number to 400, especially because of the new challenges, he said.
To put people’s minds at ease, Coleiro was confident that although fires in high-rises pose a huge threat, today the CPD is more equipped than ever to handle these situations.
Fire safety measures should be already accounted for and not simply an afterthought
Asked about the main issue with fires in Malta, apart from high-rise buildings, he said that the CPD was most concerned with people who had a complete disregard for fire safety, such as filling a room with a lot of combustibles and flammable materials.
Besides this, the CPD receives a lot of calls for fires which are related to misuse of appliances or faulty appliances.
When mentioning fire safety measures, he spoke about the CPD’s plans to implement new fire safety regulations to strengthen this sector and develop a new culture where fire safety is already accounted for in the planning stages of a project and not simply something which is treated as an afterthought.
“The situation is not that bad… but currently, there are no fire safety regulations in place, only small bits.”
Asked for a tentative date when this might be completed, he said that they could not implement it now as there is currently no structure in place. He said that the CPD’s intention is to cover all the bases with these regulations and only implement them once everything has been addressed.
“You need to have from A to Z covered and then you can start working. There is no point implementing laws just to say we have done something.”
To implement these new measures a number of different factors need to be taken into consideration, such as the law, the resources the CPD has, the owner who must have the will to implement fire safety measures, the professional who will give the required solutions and those installing the measures who must be as professional as those giving the solution.
When pressed and asked whether there should be harsher fines for people who do not implement fire safety measures, he said that their intention is never to arrive at the point of issuing fines.
“If you have a building that doesn’t have the proper fire safety measures in place… a fine does not solve that issue.”
Coleiro explained that if there are fire safety shortcomings it would be better to give the person enough time to regulate the situation, rather than simply fining them. He added that certain things which would need to be arranged might not be simple and would take a while, therefore, it is better to give the person time to implement better measures.
It also depends on the severity of the situation; for example, if the fire exits are completely blocked off this could be severe enough to completely close the place.
Overall, he was adamant that having a good fire safety system is not only about having a good alarm, but it is about having a good protocol in place where everyone knows what to do and what their role is when a fire breaks out. “You have to have a system and you have to manage it perfectly.”
A major issue which Coleiro brought up had to do with the sheer amount of grass fires Malta experiences every year. Currently, because of the high temperatures, the CPD is busy extinguishing these fires almost every day. He said that Malta experiences around 1,600 to 1,700 grassfires a year, which could be accidental or intentional.
Coleiro appealed to people to be more careful if they are having a BBQ in open spaces because at the moment this is the worst time as everything is dry and the smallest ember could cause a fire.
He also appealed to people to be careful where they throw their cigarette butts as the CPD has seen grass fires which start from the road and spread out, most likely caused by a cigarette which was not fully extinguished.
Buildings collapsing and earthquakes
With the increased number of high-rise developments and instances of building collapses, such as the ones that killed Jean Paul Sofia and Miriam Pace, Coleiro was also asked whether this worries him.
Coleiro made it clear that the CPD’s role in this sector is to react to the emergency, but he said that all injuries that occur are extra and should not have happened.
Considering that Malta experienced a few slight tremors earlier this year, he was asked whether the CPD would be able to deal with building collapses. “We need to be clear, we have been training for these types of emergencies for years.”
However, he clarified that if there are simply a few collapses then the CPD can handle this, but if it had to be something more catastrophic then they would probably request help using the EU civil protection mechanism.
Camaraderie and therapy to handle traumatic events
CPD officials are on the front line and on occasion deal with dead bodies, gruesome scenes and grieving loved ones. “Every firefighter has his own story,” Coleiro said.
“In the past, there wasn’t the awareness that there is today. But for the last six years, we’ve recognised it and now there’s a government programme entitled the Employee Support Programme (ESP) which provides this type of treatment.”
He said that the ESP professionals are very well-tuned to the officers and they are aware of the extraordinary circumstances these officers experience. “It is a hit after hit after hit for these officers… We encourage [the service] a lot.”
The service is also anonymous; in fact, he said they do not hold statistics on who makes use of this service as they do not want people to feel uncomfortable or that there is some form of stigma surrounding it.
Every time the team takes a hit following a disturbing case, the officers are nominated to group therapy and they are also free to attend therapy on their own whenever they feel the need.
For example, after officers returned from Turkey they were given a group therapy session and then sessions were given to anyone else who felt that they needed them.
Today, even before the ESP, he said that there were instances where they would talk about a particular incident over a cup of tea or coffee. This was done both to reflect on how the rescue or firefighting was carried out and also to discuss anything that might have disturbed the officers.
A very positive aspect Coleiro pointed out was that the officers are a “family”; there is a sense of camaraderie which develops from working the same shift with the same people, while experiencing the same things.
CPD officials undergo continuous training
To become a firefighter the officers undergo a 20-week training course, however, this does not mean that they automatically become a firefighter. The new recruits are teamed up with seasoned colleagues and begin shift work so that they start to gain experience without being left completely alone.
“The department is very up to date on training; I calculate that every firefighter has at least four sessions of training a year as a minimum.” For example, he mentioned how officers underwent training on how to extinguish fires on electric vehicles, a course on first aid and AED, a stop the bleed course and a course on how to deal with dementia patients.
He said training is carried out in-house by people who are very proficient in the subject, while specialised experts are brought in for other courses. Officers are sometimes also sent abroad to specialised centres. For example this year they sent 15 officers to carry out hazardous material training with the Singapore Civil Defence Force.
Coleiro himself said that he still attends training to keep up as times are changing and new challenges are always arising.
“What’s important to us is not just the training, what’s important is that you understood the training and you’re competent enough that you can do it… mistakes with us could have huge repercussions.”