A major firefighting conference, which will bring together key professionals from across the Middle East to tackle the issues facing the industry, will return to Bahrain next year.

The three-day 'Fire Department Instructor's Conference' will be held under the patronage of Interior Minister Shaikh Rashid bin Abdulla Al Khalifa in February.

The event achieved a 20 per cent growth in visitors interested in developing their firefighting skills and techniques during the previous conference, held in December last year.

More than 100 firemen from across the region also took part in a series of hands-on training modules, while more than 60 international companies showed off the latest fire equipment at an exhibition on the sidelines of the conference.

More than 20 key speakers have already been lined for next year's event, along with leading fire industry trainers who will provide Hands-On-Training sessions at eight different locations.

The conference, which will run from February 17 to 19 at the Bahrain International Exhibition Centre, is organised by the US-based PennWell Corporation, Bahrain Exhibition and Convention Bureau and General Directorate of Civil Defence.

Middle East event director of the conference Jeremy Richardson said he was delighted with the level of support for the event in Bahrain.

'The conference will see key decision-makers, buyers and influencers involved in fire, fire prevention and fire safety at the event as well as the municipal and industrial firemen who put their lives at risk to save others,' he said.

'We aim to ensure that the conference provides the fire industry with the best training achievable to help the firefighters tackle dangerous situations as safely as possible.'

The advisory board is inviting papers to be submitted for consideration at the conference and are looking for a range of topics to be covered, including responding to emergency incidents, industrial and petrochemical fire safety, operation incident management and fire safety and protection.-TradeArabia News Service