FIRE RESCUE INTERNATIONAL TRAINING ASSOCIATION is pleased to announce that we have now completed our inaugral deployement to Venezuela (January 20th to 29th, 2017), and our 4th deployment to Colombia (San Gil February 10th to 19th).

Currently, our One World Scholarship students have joined up with the FRITA deployment in El Salvador (February 24th to March 5th) which is celebrating our tenth annual deployment of Canadian Fire Service members travelling to this country for training! Over those ten years, over 100 Canadian fire fighters have deployed to El Salvador, arriving alongside 6 fire engines, 2 Ladder Trucks, hundreds of sets of PPE, SCBA, and a variety of tools and equipment.

Preparations are currently underway for the remaining 2017 deployments;

Belize (Our 3rd annual deployment – March 24th to April 2nd), Chile (Our 2nd annual deployment – March 25th to April 10th), and our 5th deployment to Colombia, our second in 2017 (Malambo April 28th to May 7th).

Planning is also underway for our 2nd annual deployment to Anguilla (November 2017) and after a break of several years, a return to Peru (November 2017). In all, 8 deployments to 7 different countries in 2017, deploying over 50 fire service professionals from across Canada, coast to coast.

With heavy hearts, all due respect, and much sadness, the Board of Directors and membership of FRITA sends condolences to the families and colleagues of the firefighters killed recently in the forest fires in Chile. Across the miles between us, their families and all the firefighters of Chile, should know that we honour the courage and sacrifice of these brave firefighters. May their heroic actions never be forgotten.

Con corazones pesados, respeto, y mucha tristeza, la Junta Directiva y miembros de FRITA manda condolencias a las familias y todos los companeros de los bomberos recien fallecidos en los incendios forestales en Chile. Sobre las millas de distancia entre nosotros, sus familias y todos los bomberos de Chile deben saber que honoramos el coraje y sacrificio de estos bomberos tan valorosos. Que sus acciones de heroismo nunca sea olvidado.

7 de febrero, 2017

As we wish everyone the best of the holiday season, and happy New Year, FRITA also has reason to celebrate. As 2017 draws near, FRITA has 35 members committed to six international deployments to five countries. We have Belize, Chile, Colombia (X2), El Salvador, and Venezuela all scheduled for the new year.

FRITA instructors hail from across Canada and the United States, with participating members from Vancouver (British Columbia), Montreal (Quebec), and St. Johns (Newfoundland).

This announcement comes on the heals of our recent inaugral deployment to Anguilla, which was our sixth and final deployment for 2016, where our training team worked closely with the Anguilla Fire & Rescue Services to put in place the foundation for a long-term, collaborative realtionship.

Flag Presentation in Santa Marta

FRITA is pleased to announce the establishment of a working relationship with Fundacion Mi Cuartel in Chile. The Fundacion Mi Cuartel is an organization comprised of Chilean firefighters from the Central and Southern Regions of the country. FRITA will be working with the Fundacion Mi Cuartel to organize and execute a 14 day training program in March and April of 2017. Thank you and welcome to our brothers and sisters in the Fundacion Mi Cuartel!

Fire Rescue International Training Association (FRITA) has opened an intake for interested instructors to deploy abroad in 2017. The following countries are confirmed for 2017:

• Venezuela – January 20-29
• Colombia (San Gil) February 10-19
• El Salvador – February 24-March 5
• Panama – March 10-19
• Belize – March 3-12
• Chile – March 25-April 10
• Colombia (Malambo) – April 28-May 7

FRITA instructors volunteer their time and cover the cost of airfare, host countries provide in-country accommodation and ground transport. Please see the attached poster for further information and details.

FRITA Poster2017

Do you have some questions? Please visit Frequently asked questions page or contact us.

One World Scholarship poster 2017

Fire Rescue International Training Association (FRITA) is proud to announce the 6th annual international deployment of the One World Scholarship program.

This partnership opportunity between the Justice Institute of British Columbia and FRITA provides graduates of the JIBC Firefighting Technologies Certificate with an international experience working alongside fire service instructors from Canada and the United States.

Today was our last day of training in San Gil. It went quickly and smoothly, and we ended early so we could go through the graduation ceremony.
The ceremony itself went well, all our trainees received three certificates for their efforts, as well as a gift. We presented the Commandant with the turnout gear we brought from Canada. There were many words of thanks, both in english and in spanish, and then a big group picture outside in front of the fire trucks.

One of the local fire departments who attended our training, the San Hose department, graciously invited us to their town for dinner. It was amazing. We ate like kings and enjoyed their hospitality until they were called away to a forest fire.
While they went off to work we were treated to a tour of the local sugar cane farm, where we saw how sugar cane is processed.

Once back it town we found out it was the birthday of one of our San Gil bomberos, so off we went to celebrate at the local dance club. Always something going on, always fun.

 Day two of training found us running a much smoother operation. All the groups of students were rotated to a new team of instructors for another intense day of learning.

One team had the opportunity to work on vehicle fire/auto ex scenarios, including driving the firetruck onto the scene, setting up lane plus one blocking, scene safety, and showing water! Many of these bomberos had never showed water before, and there were broad grins all around.
This was also the first time many had ever worn turnout gear, and the students were thrilled!
While the students had the highest respect for their instructors, they couldn’t help teasing their fearless gringo teacher about the hard earned coconut he managed to acquire the night before.

The second group learn everything we could teach them about ropes and knots. There were a number of nurses in the group who knew nothing about the topic and were happy to learn. They were also happy with all the handouts we were able to provide….and one nurse in particular was thrilled at the inadvertent proposal from our instructor, who was only attempting to apologize for hitting her with the rope.

The third group had a chance to learn all about search and rescue. They had a great time, especially with the lifts and drags portion. Once we got them into turnout gear they were so excited we couldn’t get them to remove it. It was more than 35deg C and we had to beg them to take the gear off until they were ready to run through the scenario.

With the second day of training over, we went off on our next evening adventure.

After finishing our first day of training, we went out and about for a debrief and de-stress.
Our first stop was the local watering hole. Intending to have a quiet wind down and a swim, we instead found ourselves in the middle of a lively fiesta, complete with a really fantastic live band. We took it all in stride and joined in the celebration.
From there we went to town square for supper, provided by one of the local street vendors. Shawn picked up a hacky sack for some entertainment, but we had to go, as we were late for our next event – a fashion show.
There was a bit of confusion once we arrived at the resort that was hosting the fashion show, and we ended up lost in their pool area. Seeing as we all had our swim gear on already, we hit the pool.
We eventually did find our way to the fashion show, which ended up being the last event of the evening.
From there it was back to the fire hall for some much needed sleep.

So we just completed our first day of training in San Gil. We have three teams of approximately 11 people, some who have had no firefighting experience at all.

Over the next three days we will be giving these bomberos instruction on auto extrication, ropes and knots, and search and rescue.

Given the limited resources available here we have been challenged to adapt what we know to fit the environment around us.

There has been some confusion, some laughs, a lot of questions, and a lot of non-verbal visual explanations/demonstrations.

Handouts are good. Pictures are good to.