Firefighters Without Borders

Fires, floods, hurricanes and droughts are the stuff of nightmares. When disaster strikes in the developing world, broken infrastructure can compound their impact, leading to large-scale humanitarian crises. No one knows this better than professional first responders.

When a group of Mississauga, Ont., firefighters saw the need for emergency-response training in Honduras, they pitched in to help. They launched a program that not only flies badly needed equipment to the Central American country twice a year, but also teaches life-saving skills to budding, in-country professionals. From disaster-prevention planning, to recovery and clean-up techniques, local Hondurans are learning how to prepare for and respond to fire and medical emergencies.

Honduras is just one country where the non-profit organization Firefighters Without Borders (FWB) is lending a hand. All program participants, including Canadian firefighters and EMT professionals, pay their own costs and donate expertise free of charge. All funds raised by the charity go directly to supporting mission expenses, such as shipping, fees to interpreters and costs for materials that need to be printed in local languages.

But offering help isn’t enough—FWB knows that to foster lasting change, local people must become part of the solution. In addition to teaching valuable skills, FWB trains local professionals to become instructors themselves, so knowledge can be shared within their own communities. A public education and fire prevention program also plays an important role in the organization’s mandate, and school safety classes teach children disaster prevention skills to encourage them to be active and engaged in the issue. With all this teaching going on, who knows? Perhaps all the newly anointed professionals FWB has trained may one day lead disaster relief missions of their own.

—Leah Macpherson