National Fire Authority (NFA) received much needed Breathing Apparatus from the Fortitude Valley Rotary Club of Brisbane, Australia today at the NFA Head Quarters in Suva.

Fortitude Valley Rotary Club donated the equipment which included Breathing Apparatus units complete with Masks and oxygen cylinders and spare Masks and Cylinders for NFA's firefighters.

Twenty sets of breathing apparatus, twenty spare masks and forty cylinders were donated by the Fortitude Valley Rotary Club.

NFA CEO John O’Connor thanked Fortitude Valley Rotary Club for their timely donation of the equipment.

“The equipment will greatly assist NFA in its firefighting operations as such equipment is very important for effective aggressive firefighting.

Mr O’Connor said the equipment which includes the breathing apparatus and cylinders will be dispatched to all the fire stations to boost firefighting capability in all our stations.

“These are very specialized equipment which are very critical for firefighting as it will prevent our firefighters from the high risk of suffocation as a result of excessive exposure to chemical fumes and smoke during major firefighting and rescue operations.

“We are thankful to Fortitude Valley Rotary Club for supplying this much needed equipment free of charge as these equipment are very expensive and would have cost NFA more than fifty thousand dollars to purchase complete sets of equipment,” Mr O’Connor said.

“We are also humbly pleased with the kind gesture of Fortitude Valley Rotary Club as this was their own initiative to assist the NFA with this vital equipment to our operation.”

The NFA is particularly appreciative to Mr Phillip Pickersgill who is the member of the Fortitude Valley Rotary Club and Managing Director of Banksia Scientific Company of Brisbane, Australia as he had initiated the donation of these equipment to NFA following his findings during one of his visits to Fiji when he was advised on the limited number of Breathing Apparatus that NFA has.

"He saw the need and initiated the donation of these equipment to NFA", Mr O'Connor said.

"We are happy to assist NFA with such specialized equipment because of the limited Breathing Apparatus units that NFA has. The Fortitude Valley Rotary Club has a specialist in all aspects of air supply for this industry and it was appropriate for our organization to assist NFA,” Mr Pickersgill said in an emailed advice.