Bulawayo Chief Fire Officer Mr Richard Peterson has retired
after serving the city for 11 years.
He retired together with Mr Charles Mawariwande who joined
the department in 1975. The two each received $2 000 from their colleagues,
retirement certificates and were taken on their last official tour of the Fire
Station in Famona.
Mr Peterson who joined the local authority at the height of
economic meltdown in 2008 said he leaves a happy man as he managed to oversee
the equipping of the Fire Services department, now ranked among the best in the
country in terms of service delivery.
Acting Town Clerk Mrs Sikhangele Zhou announced Mr
Peterson’s retirement on Friday during a handover ceremony for donations by
Operation Florian, a charity set up by British fire-fighters to save lives
overseas by donating reconditioned fire engines and emergency equipment to
other regions in the world at Famona Fire Station.
She said the highly beneficial partnership between the city
and Operation Florian was Mr Peterson’s brainchild.
Mrs Zhou who is also head of the Fire Services department
said Mr Peterson officially retired on December 31 2018 but was given a
three-month contract extension which expired Friday.
“We recruited
Richard Peterson to be chief fire officer in 2008. He was brave enough to assume duty in May
2008 when the Fire Station had nothing.
He had the challenge therefore to revive it and that is why we then
started looking for partners and finally the mission (Operation Florian)
started in earnest in 2011,” she said.
“We have since 2011 had trainings and re-trainings for our
firemen and we do not only confine the trainings to the City of Bulawayo.”
She said the Bulawayo Fire Brigade extends support to other
regions as in the past they have been forced to offer services throughout the
Matabeleland region and Midlands province.
‘‘Of note you will know that Victoria Falls, one of the
Seven Wonders of the World would sometimes be unable to host international
events because international events require you to assure our international
visitors that they will be safe. In the
last UNWTO hosted with Zambia, Bulawayo (Fire Brigade) had to go to camp for
two weeks to give assistance to our brothers in Victoria Falls,” said Mrs Zhou.
Mr Peterson thanked his superiors and colleagues for the
support they rendered to him during his tenure as the Chief Fire Officer.
“I came in 2008 and we had nothing as an emergency service
but I told myself that I’m notoing to give up so early. I can’t come in and
go out without having fixed things,” he said.
“We are here celebrating the work of Operation Florian and
of course we are also celebrating my exit. I’m happy because I can look back
and say at least we have done something with the Chamber Secretary and for your
information we dominated at Megafest as an emergency service we got an award as
the best emergency service provider .
“We also received a leadership award that had my name but
it wasn’t mine, it was for the team because I work with the team,” said Mr
Peterson.
He thanked Operation Florian for the support they have
rendered to Bulawayo and other local authorities in Zimbabwe.
He also thanked his colleagues for the commitment that has
seen them being recognised all over the country. Chronicle
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