safety for the facility and its visitors.

A training course, which began this week, teaches hotel staff from management down the necessary skills to differentiate between various types of fires and how to put them out.

"We're trying to give them an understanding of fire prevention practices and techniques that will assist them in their jobs and enhance the safety of visitors in their establishment,'' said the service's public relations officer Lt. Jon Thompson.

"We're hoping to give them an idea of what they can tackle themselves and when they should shut the door, get out safely and contact us.'' Lt. Thompson said two classes would be held on each of the days the employees attended, with instruction spread out over a number of weeks until everyone had participated. The staff will take part in groups of 15.

"We're teaching them the basics of what causes fires and how to extinguish them and the basics of fire extinguishers and their uses,'' he said. "What makes this unique is that we started with the top level of management. It's not a situation with employees coming back and saying `You don't do this, why should we?'' An instructor for the classes, Lt. Mike Mullan, said hotel staff would be given talks on fire prevention, safety and their responsibility to guests.

They would then be taken outside where, under instruction, they would be asked to put out different types of fires.

Lt. Thompson noted there were different extinguishers required for different types of fire -- water for wood and paper, and dry chemical powders for flammable liquids or electrical equipment.

SAFETY FIRST -- Elbow Beach, with the help of Bermuda Fire Service, has begun a training course aimed at making staff, from management down, more aware of fire prevention and the safety of the property and its guests. Pictured, from left, are Lt. Mike Mullan of the Fire Service, Elbow Beach Hotel's director of security Mr. Raymond Smith, and director of sales Ms Fran Tucker.