by Charles Maregere
25 March 2017, Pedzerai is trained and ready to save lives as she responds to various emergencies that occur around Zvishavane.
The only female in Zvishavane’s Fire, Health and Medical Department, Pedzerai has a duty to protect the community from fire disasters and to promote public safety.
She participates in fire prevention and inspection activities, equipment and quarter’s maintenance and training, dealing with all phases of fire suppression, prevention, inspection, rescue and emergency operations.
Pedzerai is dedicated to her duty and she encourages other ladies to try fire and rescue services as it is a profession not popular with many females out there.
“We evaluate each emergency situation upon arrival including properties of the fire, probability of the fire spreading, needs of victims, medical conditions, effects of weather conditions and other things in order to effectively deal with the emergency.
“We are trained to make forced entries into structures by cutting locks, breaking doors, windows or roofs as needed to gain access or to ventilate structures. This may involve using hand tools such as axes, sledge hammers, battering rams and power tools,” says Pedzerai.
She says they are trained to use systematic search procedures to try to find trapped victims without getting lost or trapped themselves.
Working under the supervision of Mr. Muchera, who is the Chief Fire Officer for Zvishavane town council, Pedzerai is confident that in future, she will be a force to reckon with in fire and rescue services.
Her request to motorists is: “The next time you hear an emergency vehicle siren, please accord that vehicle due respect and give it the way.”business
