Fire fighting is one of the most important jobs while at the same time being one of the most underestimated. But don’t tell that to their one hundred man strong volunteer unit. They know how hard it is to walk into a burning building with a highly pressurized water hose while the public shouts jibes and insults. And to make sure they’re ready for that firewalk, their skills are being tested over the next two days in the annual Fire Olympiad. This year it’s at the Yarborough Green. We found out more.
Keith SwiftReporting,
Today the speed, strength, and agility of Belize’s volunteer fire fighters were put to the test.
Scott Young, 19 years old
“The mission was to roll out two lengths of hose and roll it out, one man catching for the other man, he rolling out the hose and then we roll back both of the hoses and cross back to the white line and then the time stops.”
Rudolph Matura Jr., 18 years old
“The person with the best time wins.”
Keith Swift,
“How hard was it to do?”
Rudolph Matura Jr.,
“It wasn’t hard but I slipped down with the hose.”
18 year old Rudolph Matura Jr. and 19 year old Scott Young are volunteer fire fighters from Corozal participating in this year’s fire olympiad.
Michael Middleton, National Fire Service
“The Olympiad is an event where fire fighters from through the entire country of Belize, we gather together in one location and we display all our fire fighting skills in a competitive manner. Some of the things you are going to see are hose drills, breathing apparatus, the breathing tank we put on our back that we usually enter burning structures with, you are going to see what we call a rescue drill and you are going to see a lot of running and tomorrow morning we even have a 5 kilometre run.”
Fire Chief John Briggs says volunteer fire fighters are the backbone of the National Fire Service.
John Briggs, Fire Chief
“We cannot put enough permanent employees out there to cover the country, it is too costly so as in many countries they have volunteer units, total volunteer
units. In the States you’d find a locked up station; there is a fire truck in it but it’s purely volunteers who come out when the fire siren goes off. So this is what I would like to see develop here and I plan to try and move forward with that so that we do have volunteers who are on call, who with the agreement of their employers when the fire siren goes off there is a beeper in their pocket and they jump in the vehicle and go.”
And whenever they do get that call, Rudolph Matura and Scott Young say they’ll respond.
Rudolph Matura Jr.,
“I like the sport. It is like a sport to me. This is my third year in volunteer.”
Scott Young,
“It is an exciting job and I like the workout. It makes me feel healthy and fit.”
Rudolph Matura Jr.,
“I find it interesting, the drills help you to get in shape, and I am planning to join the fire station this next intake in September.”
Keith Swift,
“Why did you choose to be a volunteer fire man?”
Scott Young,
“The BDF training is more time consuming but with the fire service we train for one hour or two hours a day and that is a nice stiff and healthy workout but it gets you fit and keeps you in motion to continue on harder.”
Volunteer fire fighters receive a small stipend. You can sign up at the fire station nearest you. As for the Olympiad it continues all day tomorrow at the Yabra Green starting with a 5 kilometre run at 5 am.
