In March 2000, while visiting my fiancée in Ciudad Obregon, Mexico, and preparing for our wedding, I visited the main fire station. Chief Juan De Acha and the firefighters there told me about the deaths of two firefighters six months earlier. Firefighters Ernesto Partida, 28, and Manuel Medrano, 27, died while battling a large commercial fire when their air tanks ran empty and they did not have functional low-air alarms or personal alarm locators (PALs). The two firefighters simply took off their masks, breathed in superheated gases and collapsed where they were found, less than 10 feet from fellow firefighters. Their bodies had no burns.
PALs are safety devices that firefighters in the United States take for granted, thanks to organizations such as the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) and Cal-OSHA as well as certain laws passed to protect firefighters. When I had heard of this terrible accident, I thought of what I could do. My department, the Santa Maria, CA, Fire Department; gave me six PALs that were being phased out because of new technology and let me donate them to the Ciudad Obregon Fire Department. After that, I was motivated to gather phased-out equipment donated by other fire departments in my area to take to Ciudad Obregon. Even though the equipment is phased out in the U.S., it will supply a high level of protection for the firefighters of Mexico.
In 2001, I discussed the opportunity to assist in formal training with the firefighters of Ciudad Obregon. I am a rapid intervention crew tactics instructor and I was hoping that I could train with them while visiting my wife's family. De Acha thought that this was a great idea, so he put me in contact with John Adams, a member of the Woodland Hills, CA, Rotary Club and a retired Los Angeles Fire Department battalion chief. The Ciudad Obregon Rotary Club is the Sister City Rotary Club of Woodland Hills. Adams and I discussed the idea, he discussed it with club members and it was agreed to try a traveling firefighter program.
The plan was to bring structured training to the Ciudad Obregon firefighters, from simple hose evolutions to safety and survival. We would teach to the standards and requirements equal to the California State Fire Marshal level of safety or above. The Woodland Hill Rotary Club would pay the travel expenses for two firefighters per year. This appeared to be good for the firefighters of Obregon and I would be an assistant instructor/facilitator.
Since 2002, I have been traveling to Ciudad Obregon with other firefighters sponsored by the Woodland Hills Rotary Club. We have delivered quality training to the firefighters of Ciudad Obregon. The training has included:
- 2002 - Service/repair breathing air compressor and rapid intervention tactics
- 2003 - Firefighter safety and survival, firefighter accountability, vehicle extrication, and search and rescue
- 2004 - Rope rescue
- 2005 - Rescue systems and confined space rescue operations
- 2006 - Rescue systems and trench rescue
Working with current Fire Chief Sergio Martinez, we have been developing a fully functional Urban Search & Rescue (USAR) Task Force within the department. We are working to create a team equal to a FEMA Heavy classification. The team identification is Mexico Task Force 1 (MX-TF1). We feel that Ciudad Obregon is a prime geographical location for a team in Mexico. Most natural disasters in Mexico, especially earthquakes and floods, occur in the central and southern parts of the country. The USAR team would be able to mobilize and deploy to a disaster in hours, rather than international rescue teams responding in days.
With the help of the City of Big Bear, CA, Rotary Club and the City of Big Bear Fire Department, the Ciudad Obregon Fire Department has obtained a converted beverage-delivery truck that has been transformed into a USAR heavy rescue vehicle. USAR team personnel can travel on a bus in tandem with the USAR vehicle to locations within the country.
The size of the team is 32 with five additional firefighters trained as alternates to maintain the 32-member response team. Of these members, we are creating a cache of instructors for confined space operations, rescue systems, rope rescue and trench rescue. The team is made up of one task force leader, one assistant task force leader, three squad leaders and 27 firefighters (this gives the team the ability to work in three squads).
Gathering equipment has also been a large task. To date, the Ciudad Obregon Fire Department has purchased about $10,500 in equipment; ropes, hardware, software, wood, safety gear, USAR tools and an air monitor. One project is the accumulation of lumber for cribbing and creating building shores and lifting heavy objects. The A Street School facility in Santa Maria, CA, which makes wood pallets, donated scrap lumber that saves a significant amount of money due to the high cost of lumber in Mexico. The Ciudad Obregon team is working to become a USAR-type resource for the state of Sonora and country of Mexico. To date, the Woodland Hills Rotary Club has delivered over $91,000 in firefighter training to the Ciudad Obregon Fire Department.
The following master instructors from California have donated their expertise and time to the creation of MX-TF1: Engineers Tony Clayburg and Greg Welch of the Santa Maria Fire Department; Captains Mark Cameron, Phil Hanon and Tom Swanson of the San Luis Obispo County Fire Department/California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CDF); and Captains Chuck Butler, Ron Klamecki, Ernesto Ojeda and Greg Terrill of the Los Angeles Fire Department/California Task Force 1. Donors include: Santa Maria Firefighters Local 2020; Los Angeles Fire Department instructors; CDF/San Luis Obispo County Fire Department instructors; City of Big Bear Fire Department; Orcutt Fire Department; Guadalupe Fire Department; Woodland Hills Rotary Club; City of Big Bear Rotary Club; Conoco Phillips — Santa Maria Facility; Ciudad Obregon Rotary Club; Charles Moore, Charlotte, NC, Fire Department; Michael Carriero, Industrial Scientific/Titan Industrial & Safety Supply; Starved Rock Outfitters; CMC Rescue Equipment; and LN Curtis.
JOSEPH MARTINEZ is a firefighter with the Santa Maria City, CA, Fire Department. He may be contacted at [email protected]. Further information is available at http://www.freewebs.com/mexicousar/.
