If challenge was the word earlier in the week, day three of training could be summed up with adapt.
The Firefighters Without Borders Canada – Bombero Project Padre Las Casas crew knew today would be a long day as we got started on the practical skills, building on the theory taught the day before.
But before the day could even begin we were hit with some bad news. One of the firefighters who was training with us, his daughter passed away giving birth. This was the second death notification for our group in as many days.
As a sign of respect for our fellow fire family, we began the day with a moment of silence for both families.
We expected a smaller group of participants just based on the day’s events but we still had over 30 people in attendance, so the instructors split everyone into two groups and we started our day.
The one group learned about auto extrication and got a chance to learn about the Jaws of Life. The other group learned about hoses, nozzles, flaking a cross-lay, setting up a cross lay and wild land fires.
The two groups then switched before heading to lunch.
After lunch everyone got a chance to ‘play’ so to speak. The local firefighters got a chance to work with the Jaws of Life and break up some rebar and the other group learned how to work with two different hose diameters and nozzles.
Once we wrapped up for the day we went back to the hotel and got into our station blues to head to one of the funerals in nearby Bohechio.
We stopped by the funeral and the entire street was shut down for this family while they grieved. A funeral in the Dominican happens right away because they don’t embalm the body like we do back home, but the entire grieving period lasts nine days.
We stopped at the Bohechio fire hall, which is lead by a female chief. There are 186 fire chiefs in the Dominican Republic only three chiefs are female.
The Bohechio hall is without a fire truck but has a great water source in an aqueduct, which holds 5,000 gallons of water. If Bohechio has a fire, the truck from Padre Las Casas is called in.
We wanted to know about water sources because a water main had burst leaving neighbouring Padre Las Casas without water and no way for the tanker to be refilled after we had drained it in afternoon training.
On the way back to Padre Las Casas, we passed a river and Victor, one of our hosts for the week, said there was access to the river for the truck but he didn’t think the truck could be filled via drafting.
We stopped at the fire station and took a look. They had all the necessary equipment to make it work so the chief called the truck driver Manuel and after thinking our idea was crazy and there was no way it would work, six of us jumped into the truck with Manuel while the rest got into the van and headed back to the river.
At first, we gave it a shot because having three guys from one rural hall in Quinte West who draft all the time, could work out any kinks.
It took a few minutes, but the guys were able to get the tank to fill and the look of amazement on Manuel and the Chief’s faces made it all worth it.
Then it was time to drain the tank, and teach Manuel how to do it himself.
He was taught how to draft to fill the tank, how to run the deck gun off the water source and how to run the deck gun while filling the tank.
They were both so thrilled they now had they the ability to fill the truck with water even when the town was without water; which happens frequently.
We even attracted the attention of some locals who watched on the bridge while this large group of foreigners was shooting water out of the top of a fire truck down at the river’s edge.
We headed back to the fire station and called it a day because everyone was looking forward to the final day of training, where the plan is to put all their skills to the test as the groups will cut up some cars and put out a couple of fires.
Tomorrow will be a great way to wrap up a great week.
Link to original article on quintenews.com: Firefighters Without Borders: Adapting to rapid changes