The aftermath of the 2009 Sachangwan fire tragedy. [Photo|NMG]St John Ambulance officials in Lari and Limuru were on Tuesday trained by a petroleum company on how to handle accidents involving fire and petroleum.The course is aimed at expanding their knowledge on how to handle victims in a fire incident in a residential area, cars and fuel tankers.Many people have died when tankers explode while they are trying to syphon oil from overturned tankers with others sustaining lifetime injuries. Vivo Energy trainer Stephen Muchoki said first aiders in areas where the national highways pass handle numerous cases of highway fires or even on residential areas along those highways, the Star reports.The company trained the first aiders on how to talk to people to keep them away from accident scenes, how to handle fire and put it out as well as handling victims.“People keep learning and we aim at ensuring they talk to residents in their areas about accidents. We do not want to hear cases where people are syphoning fuel from a tanker or other vehicles involved in an accident,” Muchoki told the Star.He added: "Vehicles may explode or fuel may spill leading to several casualties which is unfortunate."The programme was conducted in conjunction with the Petroleum Institute of East Africa.
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