Area fire departments sharing surplus gear with Bolivia

Craig Bakay | Jan 22, 2020

Last fall, North Frontenac firefighter Michael Leach went to Bolivia ostensibly for some rope rescue exercises. When he got there, he became involved in that country’s battle against wildfires in the Amazon basin.

What he found was many young people willing to put their lives on the line, but without many of the tools their Canadian counterparts take for granted.

Leach brought his story back and presented to the joint chiefs of the Mutual Aid agreement.

Moved by the need, the chiefs decided to get involved and the result turned out to be two ½-ton truckloads of gear being shipped to the Bolivian firefighters, courtesy of the Stone Mills, Napanee, Kingston and North Frontenac fire departments.

“We’re sending coveralls for fighting wildfires, bunker gear — especially boots, forestry hose, main water supply hose, all sorts of things,” said North Frontenac Chief Eric Korhonen. “We even got contributions from our suppliers Canadian Safety Equipment and A. J. Stone in the form of gloves and safety equipment.

“The chiefs of the mutual aid group were very quick to respond.”

Korhonen said the chiefs and the mutual aide group were “very sympathetic” to the plights of their Amazon Basin counterparts, referring to the efforts as “firefighters without borders.”

So, last week, a section of the firehall in Plevna was full of gear, all waiting to be sent off to the third-world country.

“We have at least two truckloads being sent to Peterborough where it will be put on a plane to Toronto and then to Bolivia,” he said.