Fire incidents in schools drop

Fire incidents in schools have dropped by 30 percent compared to figures that existed before the establishment of the school safety department, local media quoted an official of the Ministry of Education as saying.
According to government official figures, there are around 33,000 government-run public schools across the Kingdom.
However, Majid Al-Harbi, head of the school safety department, said the ministry is working to minimize the phenomenon through holding a series of programs and procedures, including raising the level of awareness and training among students and school staff.
He said some SR800 million have been allocated for his department for this purpose.
Ali Mukhtar, head of Fire Protection Engineers, said although it took them a while to establish the school safety departments, yet those institutions are implementing strict regulations in order to fulfill their duties and minimize any chance of risk that might endanger the education process as whole.
The official called for more support from the ministry to the school safety department, especially for training on evacuation operations during fire.
He appreciated the efforts of the department which, he said, had adopted the search and analysis approach in implementing the best scientific methods in this regard, seeking technical guidance of foreign experts in fire protection area.
He called on all educational facilities, including universities and Technical and Vocational Training Corporation (TVTC), to set up safety and fire protection departments in their institutions. He expressed readiness of the Society of Fire Protection Engineers (SFPE) to provide all forms of consultancy to government and non-government institutions.