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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
The Yellowknife fire department has found an innovative solution to a problem they faced after receiving a shipment of new firefighting equipment.

Yellowknife deputy fire Chief Jason Davidson sits in the fire hall beside fire equipment similar to what is being sent to El Salvador through a partnership with Firefighters Without Borders. - Kevin Allerston/NNSL photo

Namely what to do with their old equipment, which was still safe and useable, but didn't meet National Fire Protection Association guidelines.

They have teamed with Firefighters Without Borders (FWB) to send 20 sets of old bunker gear, pants and coats to El Salvador, where proper equipment is scarce - if it can be found at all. The idea came to deputy fire Chief Jason Davidson when the department received new equipment this fall. He thought it would be a waste to have the old gear end up in a landfill.

"We had a need to dispose of some gear a little bit more responsibly than just throwing it in the landfill. I contacted (Firefighters Without Borders) to see if it's something that they could use," said Davidson.

"We were just transitioning out gear that has rips, tears, things that no longer made it allowable for interior, structural firefighting. So, we had deemed it just strictly training gear and then as space gets limited we found that we had 20 sets and we really had no place for them," said Davidson, who became involved with FWB during previous work as a firefighter in Vancouver. "So, I contacted my friends with FWB, and they jumped at the chance to do that," he said.

Davidson said the shipment, which is being delivered free of charge by Matco Moving, was expected to arrive in Vancouver yesterday. It will be cleaned, organized and loaded onto a shipping container bound for El Salvador in the spring, along with donations from approximately 72 fire departments from across Canada.

El Salvador is a country of 6.1 million people with only 400 firefighters, or bomberos, many of whom battle blazes wearing nothing more substantial than coveralls.

"So giving them the opportunity to have this standard of firefighting gear this is actually lifesaving equipment to firefighters down in El Salvador," said Davidson.

FWB donates not just equipment, but also teams to deliver training to countries all over the world, including Peru, Paraguay, Thailand, the Congo, and the Philippines.

"A lot of these countries, and El Salvador is a perfect example, get hurricanes, earthquakes, wild fires, all that stuff and not having emergency services infrastructure and the capability to respond has long term implications for the people because it's harder for them to respond and get their lives back together," he said.

Davidson said the equipment is $1,000 to $1,500 new, but is priceless to the countries that receive it.

"It does save lives," Davidson said.

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