Photo By Senior Airman Robyn Hunsinger | Naval Station (NAVSTA) Rota Fire and Emergency Service's local national firefighters...... read more read more
Naval Station (NAVSTA) Rota firefighters respond to a wide range of emergencies with an airfield, ships, family house and facilities within the gates as well as assisting outside the gates in the city of Rota. To meet the rigorous and dynamic environment, NAVSTA Rota Fire and Emergency Services Department recently sent two local national firefighters, Manuel Martinez Diaz and Juan Jerez Fernandez, to the Louis F. Garland Fire Academy in Goodfellow, Texas. The two firefighters are the first local nationals within the region to attend and graduate from the course.
“Although Navy Region EURAFCENT [Europe, Africa, and Central] employs 112 Host National employees on three different continents, the two Spanish firefighters are the first of them to ever attend and pass the extremely challenging course,” said Regional Fire Chief Joseph Orona, program director for EURAFCENT Fire and Emergency Services.
The 92-day course includes emergency medical technician, CPR, firefighter I/II, Hazardous Materials (hazmat) Awareness, hazmat operations and airport firefighter. The course is a requirement for all military firefighters coming to NAVSTA Rota in an Aviation Boatswain’s Mate (Handling) billet.
“This is a very vigorous training and has a high failure rate,” said Shane Rayfield, NAVSTA Rota installation fire chief, who himself attended the course early in his career.
The challenging course helped prepare Rayfield for his career as a firefighter and ultimately now as a fire chief.
“It’s very important to learn as much as you can absorb in the academy because as soon as you graduate, you could be fighting a fire your first day on the truck,” he explained.
To add to the physical demand and knowledge requirements of the course, Martinez Diaz and Jerez Fernandez had to comprehend and communicate in their non-native language of English.
Martinez Diaz, from Rota, Spain, described the experience as “awesome.”
“I learned a lot of things from my instructors and I could meet people who came from different parts of the world,” explained Martinez Diaz. “They showed me other points of views meaning a rewarding experience for me.”
Being able to indoctrinate the local national firefighters in Department of Defense firefighting techniques was a new initiative that Rayfield, with assistance from regional and headquarter Fire and Emergency Services leadership, worked to push through.
“These are new firefighters and we wanted to see if they could get through the course successfully,” said Rayfield. “We knew that the end result would be a top notch firefighter produced in a shorter time rather than waiting two to three years for them to get the certification.”
Prior to enrolling these two firefighters in the fire academy, local national firefighters here in Rota complete an online course to achieve the required certification. Rayfield feels that the ability to go to fire school and earn it “hands on” will exponentially improve the ability of his team to respond to any fire emergency on the installation.
Jerez Fernandez, from Rota, Spain, said that the training taught him to be adaptable in new environments as well as deepen his critical thinking skills. In short, it made him more confident in his new role as a firefighter.
“The lessons I’ve learned and the experience I’ve gained could not be accomplished in the comfort of home,” he explained.
The combined efforts of Rayfield and NAVSTA Rota Training Chief Thomas Wiley as well as Naval Station Rota, regional and headquarter leadership paved the way for the two firefighters to travel to the United States for the course.
“These guys are a new breed and culture of firefighters and now we have planted that seed here at Rota,” explained Rayfield. “It will be proven when they respond to fires and medical emergencies.”
Rayfield went on to explain that the intense training not only created competent new firefighters but also allows these firefighters to teach the other firefighters some new fire techniques.
The team at NAVSTA Rota Fire and Emergency Services hope to continue putting local national firefighters through the course. The department has budgeted for it in fiscal year 2021 and Rayfield plans to continue sending local national firefighters as long as he is in Rota.
Orona reiterated this commitment, “Although faced with challenging financial constraints, when weighing the cost vs. benefits, this is definitely something we will pursue for future recruits. Rota’s newest recruit Eduardo Lopez Mejia, is currently attending the academy.”
Lopez Mejia, whose anticipated graduation is May 2020, will return to join his fellow firefighters to continue to protect the people, property and assets in Rota.
| Date Taken: | 03.12.2020 |
| Date Posted: | 03.12.2020 08:45 |
| Story ID: | 365026 |
| Location: | ROTA, ES |
| Hometown: | ROTA, ES |
| Web Views: | 228 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
This work, Spanish Firefighters Pass Rigorous Fire Academy Training with Honors, by Courtney Pollock, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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