INTERNATIONAL FIRE FIGHTER 69
TRAINING
T
he project was initiated by the Services retired
Chief Fire Officer Paul Young in 1999 but has
received continued support since his appoint-
ment at the beginning of 2009 from Devon &
Somerset's new Chief Fire Officer Lee Howell.
Last year International Fire Magazine reported
that three Fire Officers from Devon & Somerset
Fire & Rescue Service travelled to Colombia to
help construct Fire behaviour and compartment
fire-fighting unit in the City of Manizales, Caldas.
Nigel Snowshall, Pete Sandel and Paul Furler
were in Manizales for four weeks overseeing the
construction process and training assistant Fire
behaviour Instructors who were to form part of
the resident team to provide continuation courses
for the Fire-Fighters of the region using the unit.
A contingent of Instructors from the Country's
capital city, Bogot� also took part in this training
with a view to eventually providing their own unit
in their City.
The Officers from Bogot� indicated that it was
their intention to build a new fire training centre in
the City in the near future and that they would
like with our help, to include a fire behaviour unit
as part of the build.
Mr Graham Leney of Transitional Fire has once
again offered support to the project in the form of
his technical expertise in the construction of Fire
behaviour containers.
It was then decided that the best way forward
would be to bring a team of the prospective
Instructors to the UK to take part in a dedicated
Fire behaviour Instructor course at Devon's Breath-
ing apparatus and Fire behaviour training Centre
at Exeter in Devon.
It also made sense to use our previously trained
Instructors from Manizales to assist with the
course, as their knowledge, skills and command of
the Spanish language would be invaluable.
Fire Officers Hector Gonzales and Diego
Moreno were therefore invited to attend by the
Bogot� Fire service and gladly agreed to form part
By Paul Furler
Colombian Fire
Officers return
to the UK
The latest stage of a ten-year project of assistance and collaboration between
the Colombian Fire Service and Devon & Somerset Fire & Rescue Service took
place recently. Officers from the Country once again travelled to the UK to
receive Instructor training for Fire behaviour and compartment Fire fighting.

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