Support for Colombian Firefighters by TİKA

Colombian firefighters were given capacity enhancement training through a firefighter education program organized by Turkish Coordination and Cooperation Agency (TİKA) and Union of Municipalities of Turkey.

During the education that took place in Kocaeli and Ankara, Colombian firefighters, alongside with applied education on advancing through closed and smoke-filled environments, UN classification of dangerous goods and ADR classification system, operations for the response to dangerous materials, disaster management and organization; they also had the opportunity to get to know the current techniques on responding to disasters in a fast and efficient way. The firefighters also took theoretical education on stress management and communication.

Rafael Rico Troncoso from the Fire Department of Ibague Municipality which is located in Colombia’s Tolima Department, expressed his gratitude for Turkey, stating that thanks to the skills he acquired during training he will be able to respond to incidents in a more professional way and minimize loss of life and property.

Colombian firefighter Luis Alfredo Garcia Pinto stated that they have shared opinions and experience on many topics with their Turkish colleagues and that they are going to make use of the techniques they have recently learned in order to improve the Ibague administration to an institutional level.

A second generation firefighter Tito Noel Cubides Suarez thanked TİKA and Kocaeli Metropolitan Municipality for the education program and expressed that he will try his best to share the skills he acquired in Turkey with his colleagues.

Until today, via many projects of technical cooperation including provision of fire trucks and appliance and institutional capacity training, TİKA has given support for many Latin American countries such as Paraguay, Chile and Colombia. TİKA will continue its efforts of technical support in South America through educational projects that will be attended by firefighters from Argentina and Surinam.