Building an Appreciation

Taking a hand at fire fighting during the semi-annual BP corporate fire school held at Texas A&M University’s Brayton Fire Training Field gave BP crises manager Alicia Matthews a new perspective on the people she supervises.

“I’ve never done a training like this before in my life,” Matthews said. “I’ve always appreciated fire fighting, but now ... ”

In Trinidad and Tobago, BP contracts for fire protection. Matthews works with industrial fire brigades to coordinate drills and exercises.

Crises management personnel are required to attend the corporate fire school at least once to gain an understand of exactly what the fire fighters do, Matthews said.

Randy Fletcher, BP’s Global Response Advisor, was on hand for the school held in October. Fifty students from as far away as Malaysia and Egypt attended the school.

“This school represents our expectation to deliver minimum confidence and capabilities to any of our frontline responders who may have to put hands on tools and go to an offensive response,” Fletcher said. “We give them the basic tools and skills to be able to do that effectively and safely.”