Bonds of camaderie between Canadian and Jalisco firefighters have grown stronger than ever through a five-day training program taking place this week under the auspices of Firefighters Without Borders Canada (FWB) and Chapala’s Bomberos company (PCyB).
The course was offered to approximately 60 tragahumos (smoke-eaters) from Chapala, Jocotepec, Tuxcueca, Jamay and Ixtlahuacán de los Membrillos and 10 other municipalities elsewhere in the state. Sessions were scheduled April 26 and 27 at the Chapala fire station and the Instituto Tecnológico (ITS) campus and April 28-30 at Asociacion Internacional de Capacitacion Contra Desastres (AICA) training center in El Salto.
The curriculum included theory and hands-on practice covering five core topics: Rapid Inter-vention Team (RIT) procedures for the rescue of endangered firefighters; vehicle extraction techniques for highway accident victims; fire behavior and chemistry; introduction to the guidebook on handling hazardous materials; and water supply pumping operations.
Course instruction was led by Randy Dubbert, vice president of FWB, from Burnaby, British Columbia; Glenn Paley, FWB Okanagan regional representative, Burnaby, B.C.; with aid from Ken Jacobson, of Kelowna, B.C.; Tyler Hilland, of Peachland, B.C. and Kirk Rayner, from High Prairie, Alberta.
Planning, logistics and teaching assistance from this end were ably handled by PCyB officers Lorenzo Antonio Salazar Guerrero, program coordinator and liaison with the Lakeside Assistance Group (LAG) and Sergio Corona Tadeo, head trainer.
Dubbert and Paley visited here early this year to get a fix on the challenging working conditions and technical know-how needs faced by Jalisco firefighter outfits. Most struggle to serve their communities with limited financial resources, sparse equipment and insufficient work vehicles.
LAG has been instrumental in arranging the importation of two shipments of second-hand firefighting equipment and emergency supplies donated by Canadian fire departments. The goods have been distributed to hard-strapped firefighters all around the state. Some of the gear has been employed in the FWB training program.
“We’ve come to share our knowledge with our Mexican colleagues,” explains Jacobson, who has taken part in previous FWB forays to Peru and other foreign countries. He notes that a matter of particular concern is implementation of the RIT system. “We lose 100 firefighters every year. The objective is to assure that everyone who goes out on duty comes back alive.”
Newly acquired skills will be put to the test on the final day of the course as the trainees practice the extinguishment of a simulated three-story building fire and rescue mission at the AICA facility in El Salto.