Firefighting Training

Firefighters from front left to right: Shirley Mira, Stanley Castro, Lt. Nobuo Malsol, and Jason Bells; Firefighter in middle back: Mecheuached Sebalt.

Through our partnership in the Palau Network for Wildfire Prevention (NWP), Ebiil Society convened at the Ebiil Training Center with Firefighters to participate in a training with the Pacific Island Forest Restoration Initiative (PIFRI).

The training involved the fundamentals of the initial attack for forest fires including:

• Anchor point
• Communications
• Escape routes
• Fireline construction
• Basic strategy development
• Use of handtools
• Use of personal protective equipment

Instructors of this webinar were Laura Ward and Trevor Long. Laura Ward has been a Disaster Response Technical Specialist with USAID and has recently retired from the US Forest Service as a Forest Fire Management Officer with 35 years of experience. Laura worked with Incident Management Teams as a Plans Section Chief and Operations Section Chief over the last 20 years. Trevor Long is a Wildland Fire Technician with 10 years of fire line experience in various disciplines from fire monitor to engine crew member to hotshot squad boss.

All participants received a certificate of completion.

You can help by preventing and reporting wildfires early. For more information, contact Ebiil Society.