Respiratory protection for Kenya

The fire service in Kenya’s Kilifi County has 27 new breathing apparatus wearers. What is annual news for German fire services is a rarity in the East African country of Kenya.

The non-profit organisation European Fire & Rescue Support Association e.V. (European Support Team – EST for short) is currently particularly active in Kenya and Tanzania. The organisation is particularly focused on training local firefighters.

Despite the global pandemic situation, project manager Oliver Elsner and three other trainers were able to set off for Kenya in October 2021. Donated fire protection clothing and firefighting equipment was already waiting for the team of trainers there. The material, which came from German fire services and companies, was already delivered there in November 2019. S-GARD provided particular support with protective clothing for the instructors.

The Indian Ocean Maritime Training Centre (IOMTC) in Watamu offers the trainers a container-based training facility. This also offers opportunities for real fire training. These are ideal conditions for the Kilifi County Fire & Rescue Service’s emergency services to undergo 40 hours of basic training to become breathing apparatus operators.

The German basic fire service training provides the foundation. However, it is very important to the EST training team to meet the African emergency services at eye level and to respond to their needs in a targeted manner.

Divided into 2 groups, 27 firefighters successfully completed their training as breathing apparatus wearers. Just two days after the EST training team left, they had to put what they had learnt into practice. During a fire in the local hospital, all of the teams deployed were able to proceed successfully and without damage using breathing apparatus.

The EST will continue to support the training of Kilifi County F&R and expand it in the long term to include topics such as technical assistance and water rescue.