Australia donates P4.1m fire equipment

The funding, which will continue the programme that began in 2009 with the Australian government training fire fighters, was recently approved for the next two-year phase of the programme. Speaking at the official handing over of protective firefighting clothing worth P530,000 in Gaborone recently, Australian High Commissioner to Botswana Graeme Wilson said Australia will continue to assist Botswana in developing strategies and effective fire management systems under the program.

The programme, which has so far trained over 2,500 Batswana firefighters, is part of Australia's broader bilateral development assistance to Botswana.  It also focuses on capacity building, training initiatives and the placement of Australian volunteers.Wilson pointed out that the programme has become an asset to Botswana stressing that the benefits were evident, with the number of fires being down and with seasonal fire teams in place.