TAIF: The Civil Defense in Taif is training women school officials in rescue and evacuation procedures for fire emergencies. Muhammad Al-Shehri, Civil Defense chief in Taif, said over 300 women officials and teachers from Taif schools were taking training in immediate fire response to carry out rescue and evacuation operations. “They will be tasked with response procedures such as evacuation and turning off electrical power,” Al-Shehri said. “Once they have completed the course, they will in turn train other school officials and pupils in dealing with incidents.” Al-Shehri said that women school officials had a significant contribution to make and had in the past successfully extinguished fires before fire teams arrived. “There were four incidents in Taif last year where they safely evacuated pupils before firefighters arrived,” he said. Al-Shehri added that eight women from the International Islamic Relief Organization have recently qualified to give lectures and training courses on fire and rescue techniques at girls' schools.
