IAFF Fire Fighters Reach Out to Haitian Fire Fighters

June 15, 2009 – With the help of Montgomery County, MD Local 1664 members and others, 13 Haitian fire fighters participated in the two weeks of training in swift water rescue and other fire and EMS operations at the Montgomery County Fire Rescue Training Academy.

Haiti, the third-largest country in the Caribbean behind Cuba and the Dominican Republic, is often ravaged by hurricanes and severe storms, causing flooding and other emergencies. Last year, some heavily populated areas of the country were hit by four consecutive storms, killing nearly 800 people.

Local 1664 fire fighters Lee Silverman and Rick Steer helped coordinate the training. “Our goal was to train the 13 well enough so that they could take what they learned back home and teach others,” says Silverman.

Silverman and Steer have been traveling to Haiti for about 10 years. Initially, the Cap-Haitien (a city of 180,000 people located in the northern area of the country) fire chief contacted Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Service to ask for help with basic training, as there are few, if any, training opportunities offered to Haitian fire fighters.

“We started donating old gear that was still in good working condition,” says Silverman. “Once they had the tools, we were able to start thinking about training.”

Silverman and Steer’s trips to the country have been made possible by the Florida Association for Volunteer Action in the Caribbean and the Americas, Inc. (FAVACA), which often arranges and pays for their travel.

The two Montgomery County fire fighters decided that this time, they would invite the Haitian fire fighters to Maryland because the facility there could better accommodate the training they wanted to provide.

Helping the Local 1664 fire fighters were International Firefighters Assistance (IFA) members. IFA is a charity that also provides regular assistance to Haitian fire fighters.

IFA president Nate Lasseur is a member of West Palm Beach, FL Local 727. “I became interested in helping because my parents are Haitian,” says Lasseur. “Eventually, some other IAFF members in Florida helped me form the IFA. When we got word that some of our Haitian brothers were coming to Maryland, we offered to help with translations and training.”

Silverman and Steer hope to make their next trip to Haiti to deliver additional training and gear sometime next year. Since most of the training provided so far has been for inland flooding, they hope to begin focusing on ocean rescue operations.