Many of the firefighters in and around Lusaka, Zambia, Kenya, wear personal protective equipment branded with logos from Fire Departments around the US, thanks to the efforts of the Africa Fire Mission.

During the last two weeks in October 2019, 10 retired and active firefighters from throughout the United States and one from Ravensburg, Germany volunteered their time and money to travel to Zambia, where they hosted an annual fire training symposium attended by more than 120 firefighters as part of the nonprofit organization Africa Fire Mission.

Chief Clemmensen, a retired Fire Chief from the Chicago Metro area, was the lead speaker on leadership for about 32 chief fire officers from fire brigades from all around Zambia.   Topics included “White Helmets (chief fire officers) and the Politicians”, Step-up and Lead, Incident Command System, and How to Building Stakeholders within the Community.  “We’re teaching the fire officers to be more self-reliant within their own government and the communities they serve,” Clemmensen said. “We don’t mind coming there and sharing our knowledge and experience with them so that they can become more responsible to their own fire brigades.”

Other classes being taught during the weeklong symposium were, Community Fire Prevention, Basic Chaplaincy for the fire service, and a hands-on Tactical class.  The symposium was held at the Eden University in Lusaka and in partnership with CAFFZAM (Campaign for Fire Free Zambia) and the Zambia Airport Corporation Limited.

ZACL has a dedicated and highly trained Fire and Rescue Service team who are always on standby in case of emergency. The brave men and women of this unit are also trained in First Aid with their principle objective being to save lives in the event of an aircraft accident or incident.

The Fire and Rescue Services team will respond to all aircraft emergencies within the airport's boundaries and will also respond to 'off airport' incidents that fall within an eight degree cone from the end of each runway.

All incidents that occur outside of the airport boundary are the responsibility of the local authority Fire Brigade and rescue service serving that location however special requests are sometimes made by the local authority and dependent on circumstance, major foam tenders may be dispatched as aid.

Available 24 hours a day, every day of the year (only at Kenneth kaunda international airport), the Fire and Rescue Service team provides a wide range of emergency services including first aid and transportation.

Craig Duck, a retired Lieutenant from the Washington DC Fire Department, and president of the Fellowship of Christian Firefighters International taught a group of about 10 firefighters what it means to be a chaplain within a fire department or brigade. 

Brain Burkhardt, a retired Captain from the Greenfield (Indiana) Fire Department, taught a group of about 33 firefighters from the community and private sector, along with some citizens from the businesses from within communities about Fire Prevention and Outreach. “It’s not the sexy part of our curriculum, but fire prevention is what saves the most lives and has changed a lot of their culture,” Burkhardt said. “It’ll take decades to get the needed resources and upgrade the infrastructure, so fire prevention is the most important thing they can do today.”  Brain was also tasked with teaching all the attendees from each group the “Stop the Bleed” program, which is currently being taught in the US.

Finally, a group of four firefighters (Ryan Andersen, Brett Miller, and Jeff Hulley) from the South Metro (Colorado) Fire Department and the one firefighter (Lukas Wachter) from Germany, taught a group of about 21 firefighters on different firefighting tactics at the Lusaka Fire Brigade station.  It was interesting that the week prior to our visit, a group of firefighters from LA where teaching the Lusaka firefighters how to operate a fire engine that had been recently donated from LA city fire department.  

David Moore Jr., executive director, founded Africa Fire Mission in 2013. Moore started the nonprofit after seeing the living conditions while he was on a trip with his wife, Nancy, to Africa as part of Mission of Hope International. He said Africa Fire Mission now has about 30 regularly active participants and has decided to focus on training.  “What often happens with a lot of donations to developing countries is they end up sitting in storage somewhere because nobody ever teaches the recipients how to use the stuff, especially when the user manuals and labels are all in another language,” Moore said.

 “When you go to developing countries, it’s unbelievable how poor some people can be and how much we take for granted in the US,” he said. “I know we have needy people in this country, but nowhere near the desperate levels of what you see in some developing countries.”

 Consider joining AFM on a future mission trip to Zambia or another country! Learn more at: https://www.africafiremission.org/join-a-mission

Author: Hank Clemmenson.