The Oakville Beaver, Wednesday June 26, 2002 - A 3 Antiguan firefighters eat up training By Howard Mozel OAKVILLE BEAVER ST A FF W hen three A ntiguan firefight ers return hom e after 12 w eeks training with their O akville coun terparts, th e y 'll do so w ith a w ealth o f know ledge to share and m em ories o f the cam araderie dis tinctive to their calling. T im o th y D rew , M oney D uncan and R ohan R odney -- v eteran s w ith a co m b in ed 50 years service -- have been train ing since M ay 6 alongside the O ak v ille F ire D e p a rtm e n t's (O FD ) six new est recruits in their in-house training program . T he visitors w ill head back to A ntigua at the en d o f July. T h ere they w ill d o th e ir best to teach new co m m an d sy stem s, fire fig h tin g te c h n iq u e s and in n o v ativ e th in k in g , such as c o r p o rate sp o n so rsh ip for a service in d ire need o f p ro p er eq u ip m ent. " W e w a n t to p ass on k n o w l ed g e to th o se cra v in g fo r the tr a in in g b a c k h o m e ," sa id D rew , o n e o f ab o u t 120 f ire fig h te rs on an islan d o f 7 0 ,0 0 0 p eo p le. A ccording to A ssistant C hief T raining O fficer B ruce M cW hirter, the trio "ate up" every bit o f inform ation they could glean while in O akville and he has no doubt their peers back hom e in A ntigua will do the same. "It is our departm ent's goal to teach our visiting firefighters addi tional skills that will assist them in their future en d eav o u rs," said O FD C h ief T raining O fficer Richard Craibbe. T hat m ay perhaps be easier said than done, considering the current state o f the A ntiguan fire service. A fter being contacted by the island's governm ent late last year, M cW hirter and another m em ber o f the O FD traveled to the island and assessed training processes and equipment. W hat they found might be con sidered shocking to N orth A m ericans w ho som etim es take their own level o f fire protection for granted. M cW h irter ex plained that crews have no radios, so if they need to sum m on backup at a fire, a Barrie Erskine · Oakville Beaver From left, Rohan Rodney, M oney D uncan, and Tim othy Drew are three firefighters here from A ntigua to spend 12 w eeks training with their O akville counterparts. on the island w ork as telephone has to be found. " We want to pass on well. "We could select At one station he knowledge to those only three o f them, found 12 firefighters craving for the train but 120 guys w anted sh arin g only tw o b rea th in g ap p aratu s to co m e," said ing back home." M cW hirter, w ho and ev en splittin g · Timothy Drew; p ro tec tiv e garm en ts ex p lain ed that Antiguan firefighter Antiguan firefighters -- one w earing the also double as police ja c k e t, an o th er the pants. officers, a practice w hich may soon be phased out. Only a handful o f fire hydrants Barrie Erskine · Oakville Beaver O ak ville firefighters train alon gsid e their cou n terp arts from A ntigua at a D onessle D rive hom e that's slated for dem olition. D rew -- w h o ev en te ac h es th e D A R E p ro g ra m in sc h o o ls -- e x p la in e d th a t m an y retire d A n tig u a n f ir e f ig h te r s o fte n h av e a sh o rte n e d life e x p e c ta n c y a f te r y e a rs o f b r e a th in g sm o k e an d g a s e s fro m fire s b e c a u se o f th e la ck o f b re a th ing ap p a ratu s. Fortunately, said Craibbe, new North A m erican equipm ent stan dards will m ake it possible for the A ntiguans to inherit som e air packs. D espite the obvious shortcom ings o f their own service, the three A ntiguans are nonetheless pos sessed by the sam e pride and worth ethic characterized by the OFD. As a result, they have sponged up every nuance o f their Canadian training and are eager to spread it back home. To add realism to their efforts, the Training D ivision obtained a single family hom e on D onessle D rive scheduled for dem olition that provided an ideal venue for a full day o f practical training last week. U sin g e q u ip m e n t su ch as m u ltip le sm o k e g e n e ra to rs, train ees ex ecuted basic firefig h t ing tasks including v entilation, la d d e rin g , fire strea m s an d search and rescue. "W e are thankful to the proper ty owner, since it is infrequent that hom es are donated for this pur pose," said Craibbe. `T h is is an excellent opportuni ty for everyone involved to hone their fire/rescue skills," Craibbe said. G iven A ntigua's financial situ ation, M cW hirter said the OFD has also enlightened them about corporate sponsorship, such as approaching the resorts and hotels w hich can benefit from the fire service about footing the bill for radios. Duncan -- w ho first visited Canada in 1987 -- assured his trip hasn't been all hard work. Duncan explained that h e's vis ited Niagara Falls, attended a Blue Jays baseball gam e at SkyD om e in Toronto and helped out with the recent Special F riends D ay in Oakville. "It's great to be back in this lovely country," he said. Barrie Erskine · Oakville Beaver Oakville firefighter Aaron Breier scans a room using Thermal Imaging system in a house filled with simulated smoke. B E R TIN STABLES 3 in d o o r rid in g arenas. 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