Brian Carless, Freelance Writer
Justin Sempsrott (left) of the American Red Cross' life-saving corps carries out a swift-water training exercise with Lance Corporal Cordel Orlebar of the Portland division of the Jamaica Fire Brigade last Friday. The training exercise was done in the Rio Cobre in Bog Walk, St. Catherine. - PHOTO BY BRIAN CARLESS
WITH THE upcoming Cricket World Cup 2007 roughly nine months away, the emergency services are now even more prepared to deal with any emergency situation that may arise.
This is as a result of the completion of the month-long Jamaican Land Search and Rescue Training Course held between June 12 and July 7 at the Jamaica Police Academy in Twickenham Park, St. Catherine. Funded by the United States 12 Southern Command humanitarian assistance programme, the course involved 30 participants from the Jamaica Fire Brigade, the Jamaica Constabulary Force, Jamaica Defence Force, the Red Cross and the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management. Five women took part, four from the fire brigade and one from the Red Cross.
The course was geared towards getting the emergency services trained and better prepared to deal with emergencies and disasters. The course covered a wide range of topics, including ropes, canine, swift water and collapsed structure rescue, mass casualty, incident command, weapons of mass destruction and hazardous material.
The instructors came from the St. Croix rescue academy in the U.S. Virgin Islands and from the American Red Cross Volunteer Life Saving Corps. A land search and rescue team is to be set up in Jamaica.
