KENYA / SOMALI FIREFIGHTERS TRAINING

 The UN mission inSomaliais training Somali firefighters inKenyaon emergency fire and rescue management. Although Al Qaeda linked militants have been pushed out of most urban cities and towns ofSomaliathey still hold areas in the Southern part of the country and still pose a challenge with suicide bombings within the country and attacks outside its boarders.

AU/UN IST

• Categories: News & Features / News Stories / Unifeed
• Video Length: 00:04:55
• Production Date: 12 October 2013
• Asset Language: Original
• Corporate Name: AFRICAN UNION - AU
• Subject Topical: DEVELOPMENT; PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION; OCCUPATIONS; MANPOWER; OCCUPATIONS; DISASTER PREVENTION; DISASTER PREPAREDNESS; DISASTER RELIEF; TERRORISM
• Geographic Subject: KENYA; SOMALIA
• MAMS Id: U131012a

Description

STORY: KENYA / SOMALI FIREFIGHTERS
TRT: 4:55
SOURCE: AU/UN IST
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH/SOMALI/NATS

DATELINE: 04 OCTOBER 2013 / NAIROBI /KENYA

Shotlist

1. Wide shot, Jomo Kenyatta International Airport Fire and Rescue Unit
2. Med shot, Somali Fire and Rescue training wearing their protective gear
3. Med shot, young Somali fire fighter wearing his gloves
4. Med shot, Kenyan instructor helping a Somali Fire Fighter put on his gear
5. Wide shot, Somali Fire and Rescue trainees warming up before a drill
6. Med shot, Fire fighters doing exercises to warm up
7. Wide shot, Somali Fire and Rescue team jogging
8. Wide shot, Kenya Airways Plane taxing to take off
9. Med shot, Somali Fire-fighters carrying the fire hosepipe
10. Wide shot, Fire fighters running with the hose during the drill
11. Wide shot, Fire and Rescue members running the hosepipe for the drill
12. Med shot, Somali Fire fighter checking the hose for kinks
13. Wide shot, Somali Fire fighters doing the drill
14, Close up, hosepipe with water gushing out
15. Wide shot, Fire fighters and their Kenyan instructors running the drill
16. Med shot, water spraying as Somali Fire and Rescue members do the drill
17. Med shot, Somalia fire fighters
18. Close up, reflections of the Fire fighters on a pool of water
19. SOUNDBITE (English) Francis Ndeleva, Kenyan Airports Authority (KAA) Fire and Rescue Instructor:
“Airport Fire Fighting is a bit advanced, it is more technical because you have to deal with a aircraft with passengers on board and there is a lot of fuel and it is moving. So when it touches down, they you expect a lot of problems. And the fire is abrupt, it builds up very fast and people can inhale toxic gasses from within or even hot air.”
20. Wide shot, Fire drill with fire in front of some old aircrafts
21. Close up, Fire burning
22. Wide shot, fire and smoke billowing in front of an old aircraft
23. Med shot Somali Fire and Rescue team putting out the fire
24. Wide shot, Fire fighters at the scene fighting the fire
25. Med shot, Fire fighters with hose fighting the fire
26. Close up, fire being extinguished
27. Wide shot, fighter fighters dowsing the fire during the drill
28. Med shot, Somali Fire Fighters separating objects in the fire
29. SOUNDBITE (English) Farah Karar Mahamud, Deputy Team Leader Somali Fire and Rescue:
“We have enjoyed it, sometimes we do exercises of physical structure and sometimes we take theory; what fire is, what fire causes and the hazards of fire. We’ve learnt a lot of advantages in Kenya.”
30. Med shot, Somali Fire and Rescue members entering the aircraft and removing passengers
31. Wide shot, affected passengers being treated during the fire rescue drill
32. Med shot, Somali Fire and Rescue member treating those affected by the fire
33. Close up, Rescue member holding the head of a passenger to clear the airway
34. Close up, Somali Fire and rescue member talking to the affected passenger
35. Wide shot, treated passenger being carried on a stretcher
36. SOUNDBITE (Somali) Mohamed Abdullahi, Somali Fire and Rescue Team Leader:
“This means a lot, 20 young people receiving this important training and going back home to transfer this knowledge to others is very beneficial for the country. The benefit is that we have come from a point where we did not have these skills we have acquired and we have had challenges, but now we have the know-how to counter fire disasters.”
37. Wide shot, Somali Fire and Rescue member rolling the hosepipes
38. Close up, hose with fire fighters in the background rolling it
39. Med shot, Somali Fire and rescue Members rolling their fire hose

Storyline

The Kenyan Airports Authority (KAA) has been playing host to a special unit from Somalia. These young men are members of Somalia’s first government-run Fire and Rescue unit or Firefighters, since the country was plunged into chaos and civil war in 1991.

As the country tries to rebuild itself and its institutions, Somalia’s Fire fighting unit was re-established early this year and has since been trying to grow its numbers and technique.

Through an initiative by the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) Trust Fund, 20 Somali firefighters were flown to Nairobi-Kenya to be trained on emergency fire and rescue management.

Although the unit has just been in service for about 10 months, these men have had to learn the trade the hard way. They have had to learn on the job and often risking their lives, as they tackle Mogadishu’s fires, explosions from Improvised Explosive Devices’ (IED’s) and suicide bombings, like the one at the popular Village Restaurant about a month ago. With basic training from AMISOM’s fire fighting Unit in Mogadishu, Somalia’s Fire and Rescue ladder-men have risen to the challenges and saved lives and property.

The three and half weeklong training in Nairobi is aimed at improving the firemen’s firefighting skills and how to properly use their equipment. The training includes Airport Fire and Rescue Management as well as the handling of buildings fire.

Francis Ndeleva A Fire and Rescue Instructor FROM THE Kenyan Airports Authority (KAA) explained that airport Fire Fighting is a more advanced,

SOUNDBITE (English) Francis Ndeleva, Kenyan Airports Authority (KAA) Fire and Rescue Instructor:
“Airport Fire Fighting is a bit advanced, it is more technical because you have to deal with a aircraft with passengers on board and there is a lot of fuel and it is moving. So when it touches down, they you expect a lot of problems. And the fire is abrupt, it builds up very fast and people can inhale toxic gasses from within or even hot air.”

As the Somali firefighters run their drills on how to attack a fire and defend themselves from the inferno, at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, they are quickly reminded of why they are there. In 1991 when then Somali President Siad Barre was ousted from power, he used these very aircrafts at the fire drill site, now shells of what they once were, when he fled the country 1991. His departure gave rise to civil conflict and extremist groups like al Shabaab in the horn of African nation.

Although the Al Qaeda linked militants have been pushed out of most urban cities and towns of the country by the Somalia National Army with support from the African Union Peace Keeping force AMISOM, they still hold areas in the Southern part of the country and still pose a challenge with suicide bombings within the country and attacks outside its boarders; like the recent Westgate Attack in Kenya.

The African Union peacekeepers say they committed to getting rid of al Shabaab insurgents, but they are stretched and need more soldiers on the ground and troop multipliers like attack helicopters and Armored Personnel Carriers in order to finish the Job.

For these Somali fire fighters, their newly acquired skills as first responders and emergency services will go a long way in helping Somalia get back on its feet after over two decades of war.

SOUNDBITE (English) Farah Karar Mahamud, Deputy Team Leader Somali Fire and Rescue:
“We have enjoyed it, sometimes we do exercises of physical structure and sometimes we take theory; what fire is, what fire causes and the hazards of fire. We’ve learnt a lot of advantages in Kenya.”

AMISOM through its Trust Fund and support from the United Nations support office for AMISOM (UNSOA) hopes to continue training more Somalis as a way of building capacity in the country.

SOUNDBITE (Somali) Mohamed Abdullahi, Somali Fire and Rescue Team Leader:
“This means a lot, 20 young people receiving this important training and going back home to transfer this knowledge to others is very beneficial for the country. The benefit is that we have come from a point where we did not have these skills we have acquired and we have had challenges, but now we have the know-how to counter fire disasters.”

So far Somalia’s Fire unit working out of its newly built headquarters in Mogadishu has 53 with 3 fire trucks and 3 ambulances. They are hoping to get more equipment and to expand their operations from the capital to other liberated areas of the country.