To make a career they play with fire, literally!

Gone are those days when very few among us would opt for a challenging job in fire and safety department. Reason? Many even did not know how to get into that profession. Only those, whose father or grandfather worked as a fire and safety officers, would want to take up a similar career path.

However, the scene is changing today and with the increasing number of training institutes in Gujarat, job prospects for students wanting to pursue careers in that field has become much better.

According to Dhimant Soni, an alumnus of College of Fire technology (COFT), Sanand, "COFT is in existence since 2001 and is affiliated with Gujarat University. However there is a lack of knowledge and awareness on the college and its courses and education programmes on fire and safety, fire fighting and more."
Soni is currently working as a fire and safety officer with a construction firm at Bopal.

Another alumnus of COFT, Jaydeep Gohil is also working as a fire and safety officer with a construction firm at Surat. "We are not merely fire and safety officers, but we play a key role in taking care of the labourers who work at the construction sites. The officials ensure that adequate, required safety measures are taken. For instance wearing the right gloves, boots, and donning the construction cap among others are taken care by us," he said. He further added that they have been provided with hands on training on disaster management, fire management, rescue operations and much more. "Officially we are licensed to train security guards and other personnel for a corporate set up to safeguard against fire," he added.

After completion of second year of college, students get a chance to work as interns with any corporate set up for 45 days. Currently pursuing his internship is Harsh Bhavsar who said, "During the internship we are taught various fire management techniques, and drill and rescue operations that are carried out for hands-on practical training."

When quizzed on the little awareness but yet increase in the number of institutes teaching fire and safety programmes in the state, additional chief fire officer, Ahmedabad Fire and Emergency Services (AFES) Rajesh Bhatt said, "Courses such as these have become extremely important as the number of the family members inheriting this job are less in number. Besides COFT in Sanand, there are other institutes in Bavla, Dahod and Baroda, where courses on subjects - fire and safety and security are provided, however there is no awareness about the same."

Describing it as a creditable opportunity for many, Bhatt concluded that they operate the Regional Training Centre of National Fire Service College of Nagpur in Ahmedabad wherein they accommodate a batch of 27 students with only one girl student.