Chilean firefighters receive dream training through PBSC’s Fire Academy

 

Palm Beach State College welcomed 24 Chilean firefighters from fire stations all throughout Chile who were on the Lake Worth campus to for a weeklong training session from July 21 to 27 using the College’s state-of-the-art Fire Academy equipment and facilities.

The training culminated with a graduation ceremony held at the Center for Bachelor’s Programs on Friday, July 26.

The volunteer firefighters, whose ages ranged from 20 to 63 including seven females, came through a partnership with Evolution Fire Training Solutions led by President Alberto Arango.

Arango, who is also a firefighter in Broward County, says the company helps connect firefighters in other countries with opportunities to train at top notch facilities in the United States.

“PBSC has one of the best Fire Academy facilities and equipment that I have ever seen, so I knew I wanted to see this group come to PBSC and train with their excellent instructors many of whom are bilingual,” said Arango.

Alberto and PBSC’s Fire Recruit Director Dave Hamel helped organize the training at PBSC which Alberto says was a dream for these men and women who unfortunately don’t have the same modern resources and support systems for training in Chile.

Five of PBSC’s bilingual instructors taught these visitors each day. During the training, they learned High Rise Operations and how to organize a Rapid Intervention Team which is a team used to locate and treat a down firefighter.

Arango says these types of teams are standard in the U.S. but not in Chile so it’s important they bring this expertise back to Chile so they can teach others.

PBSC and EFTS’s goal is to have reoccurring training sessions with not only firefighters from Chile but other countries in Central and South America.

Photos: Flickr album.