LAHORE – 532 Fire Rescuers graduated at Emergency Services Academy (ESA), Shama Chowk, Ferozepur Road, Lahore in the middle of a heavy shower on Monday. The passing out fire fighters have been recruited and trained for remaining 24 Districts of Punjab under special instructions of Punjab Chief Minister Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif.
These remaining Districts include Attock, Bahawalnagar, Bhakkar, Chakwal, Gujrat, Hafizabad, Jehlum, Jhang, Kasur, Khanewal, Khushab, Layyah, Lodharan, Mandi Baha-u-Din, Mianwali, Muzaffargarh, Nankana Sahib, Narowal, Okara, Pakpattan, Rajanpur, Sheikhupura, TT Singh and Vehari.
The Chief Guest of the ceremony was Punjab Home Secretary Shahid Khan. The other guest of honor was National Institute of Management Director General Naeem Aslam. The ceremony started with the Director General taking oath from graduating cadets. The fresh fire rescuers took the oath that they will rescue disaster victims while putting their own lives at risk. The fire rescuers displayed their professional skills through fire fighting demonstrations, rescue drills and emergency management of mass casualty incidents like explosions and building collapses.
The rescuers proved that they were ready to help in any emergency or disaster in any condition. Chief Guest Shahid Khan appreciated training and professionalism of Rescue1122 squad saying that rescuers were performing an excellent job with noble cause. “Rescue 1122 shall soon start its operations at Tehsil level in Punjab”, he further added.
The guest of honor Naeem Aslam said that Rescue1122 is the only service that provides a sense of safety to citizens because of its international standards. “I have traveled all over the world and seen emergency services everywhere and I feel that Rescue1122 can compete with the best services in the world”.
The Punjab Emergency Service (Rescue 1122) Director General Dr Rizwan Naseer during his welcome address declared that the Service has rescued over 800,000 emergency victims and saved expected losses of over Rs 40 billion. He also expressed confidence that the rescuers would gain respect from citizens by maintaining the service’s international standards in the remaining districts.
Dr Rizwan Naseer said that rescuers shall always be ready to rescue regardless of any challenge. “Looking at the increased number of fire and building collapse incidents, we need to work for prevention of emergencies to ensure building a safer Pakistan”, he said.
He further added that capacity building of trainers has been done on regular basis to ensure high quality of their training. The Service would soon be running internationally certified courses in ESA with international collaboration.
