Burnaby firefighters are making a difference a world away, and on Tuesday, they got to meet with the man who sees first-hand how much of a difference they truly make.
Gerry Caceres, a deputy national fire chief for the Federation of Firefighters in Nicaragua, was in Burnaby Oct. 7 to tour the city’s Fire Hall #1 and meet with the firefighters who helped get Burnaby involved in Operation Nicaragua, an initiative founded by a retired teacher in Kamloops and was quickly adopted by its local fire department.
Fire departments across Nicaragua were completely destroyed during the country’s revolution more than 20 years ago. Since then, volunteers like Caceres have been rebuilding, from scratch, everything that was lost. Today, the country has 11 fire stations, which serves only 38 per cent of the country’s 147 municipalities.
“All the fire departments that we had that were independent, volunteer fire departments practically disappeared during the revolution,” he said. “After the free elections, (the government) gave us back our right to reorganize again.”
When Caceres and his fellow firefighters first set to rebuild the departments, they had nothing – no trucks, no equipment, nothing. Operation Nicaragua, has been one way the country has been slowly rebuilding its fire departments.
Since its inception, Operation Nicaragua has donated 14 fire trucks, old hoses, equipment and gear from fire departments in British Columbia, Alberta and Ontario.
“We’ve done incredible work together. The people of Canada have really shown they’re interested in helping and their good, kind hearts,” Caceres said.
This is the first time the Burnaby Fire Department has participated in Operation Nicaragua on such a scale. Spearheaded by Capt. Erik Vogel, the department approached the city earlier this year about donating one of its retired fire trucks south to Nicaragua. The city agreed and the truck was placed in storage, where it remains until it’s ready to be shipped by freighter to Nicaragua.
Other items donated by Burnaby include old gear, uniforms and 2,000 feet of hose. Both Vogel and Caceres agree, rather than watching equipment be shipped to the landfill when it “expires,” Operation Nicaragua gives it a second life in a country where it is desperately needed.
“Even if it’s old or used, discharged equipment in Canada, it becomes our brand new, state-of-the-art equipment for us,” Caceres said.
The new equipment also provides firefighters in Nicaragua with something they can be proud of, which can make a world of difference, Caceres added.
“It provides a sense of dignity to our firefighters to say that they do have some good equipment to work with,” he said. “It’s hard and sad when you have to fight fires with buckets of water or sand.”
Operation Nicaragua also facilitates a training exchange program where Canadian firefighters spend a few weeks training the volunteer firefighters.
“It has become a really nice program,” Caceres said. “This is all on a volunteer basis. People pay their own way down, and it’s like a little vacation with humanitarian work.”
With an additional 55 fire trucks still needed (Caceres said the federation is aiming to get at least 30), Operation Nicaragua is in no way over.
About three to four shipments of equipment are sent to Nicaragua each year and most of the goods are shared between the 11 departments. Soon the federation will open a 12th fire department and Caceres was proud to say there’s already a fire truck and equipment ready and waiting for the new team of volunteers.
“Who would think that an old uniform would make somebody feel good,” he said. “When you’re able to provide a … good looking uniform to a volunteer firefighter that never had one, it gives him a sense of dignity in what he does, and pride. It all works out beautifully.”
