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Regional Training Programs

The Learning and Professional Development section of ADPC will offer a number of Regional Training Programs in the current year and early 1998. Subsequent to the previous announcement, some dates have been changed in order to coordinate with various partner institutions. This link provides the upcoming training programs.

ADPC and NFPA partnership

On March 14, a new partnership between the Asian Disaster Preparedness Center (ADPC) and the National Fire Protection Association- International (NFPA) began. On this date, Mr. Walter Futrell, NFPAÕs Regional Manager for Asia-Pacific, formally took up office at ADPC and began a partnership which had been in the making for some time. This is a bold new step for both ADPC and NFPA.

Walter Futrell comes to ADPC and NFPA after over 30 years in the field of fire protection. His background includes fire service experience, coordinating fire service training programs in his native state of South Carolina, teaching as an assistant professor at university level, traveling to 33 countries and conducting fire protection evaluations of US Government facilities. Prior to assuming the NFPA Regional Manager position, he operated his own private fire protection consulting business where he performed extensive fire protection engineering tasks for United States Government contractors. He is a registered fire protection engineer and has served as an adjunct instructor for the US National Fire Academy.

In the coming months, Mr. Futrell will be working to assist ADPC in expanding its Natural Hazards Mitigation program to include the hazards of fire. As with ADPC, Mr. Futrell's area of responsibility will not be limited to Thailand, but will include all of Asia Pacific. Initial efforts will be spent in assisting governments and the private sector to determine the strengths and weaknesses of the existing fire protection programs. From this analysis ADPC and NFPA will determine how best to respond to the fire protection needs within the region.

Much of the initial effort will be put in quietly behind the scenes assisting government officials to determine their fire protection needs and assisting them in developing realistic solutions, both short and long term. At the same time new courses, targeted at both a particular fire threat, as well as a particular audience, will be developed and offered. Some courses will be offered in response to a clear need, while others may be in response to the needs of a particular group (hotels for instance), or a particular industry (automobile manufacturing for instance). The first fire safety course which we are proposing will target high-rise building fire safety and will be held in Bangkok.

For additional information or to request a specific class on fire safety, please contact: W.Futrell at ADPC (Tel: (66 2) 524-5375; Fax: (66 2) 524-5360) or the Executive Director, ADPC (Tel: (66 2) 524-5353; Fax: (66 2) 524-5360).

Road Accident Rescue

Over the last couple of years ADPC has developed considerable expertise in addressing issues related to man-made disasters. The Center has now acquired state-of-the-art equipment for Road Accident Rescue and offers courses on Road Accident Rescue through its ongoing collaboration with the Department of Emergency Services, Queensland, Australia.

On 5th June 1997, ADPC and Department of Emergency Services, Queensland, Australia made a presentation at the National Safety Council of Thailand on an upcoming initiative to improve Road Accident Rescue (RAR) capacity in Thailand. The ADPC initiative is important and timely, in the wake of rising annual death toll due to road accidents in Thailand.