CARTAGENA, COLOMBIA – Each year, emergency response professionals from all over Latin America attend the Texas A&M Engineering Extension Service’s (TEEX) Spanish Fire School to participate in Spanish language fire and emergency courses. From August 6 to 10 of this year, TEEX hosted its 57th annual Spanish Fire School at the SACS Group facility in Cartagena, Colombia. During the week, students attended specialized courses covering topics such as industrial rescue, fire management, fire instructor, hazmat and industrial firefighting. This year, 23 participants were eligible to receive the Latin American Emergency Response Specialist certificate, the largest group ever to receive this designation at TEEX’s Spanish Fire School.
TEEX Fire and Emergency Services Division Director Gordon Lohmeyer stated, “Previously, we held our annual Spanish school at our Brayton Fire Training Field in College Station, Texas. However, because of the cost of travel and the difficulty of obtaining a visa, we moved this year’s Spanish school to Latin America. The SACS Group’s facility has been affiliated with TEEX as a Cooperative Learning Center for the past eight years. The event was a huge success, and we operated above 100% capacity, welcoming 232 students and 35 guest instructors.”
Attendees at this year’s school represented fifteen Latin American countries and one U.S. territory, including the Galapagos Islands, Mexico, Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Argentina, Peru, Brazil, Bolivia and Uruguay.
After training ended on Thursday, there was a memorial service to honor guest instructors who served at TEEX’s annual schools for more than ten years. The memorial featured a trumpeter, a 5-5-5 bell signal and a ceremonial wreath laying.
On Friday, August 11, in conjunction with Spanish Fire School, the SACS Group held a conference about environmental considerations in emergency response. Three hundred people attended the conference, including Spanish Fire School participants and professionals from the oil and gas sector and the solar and wind power industries. Lohmeyer spoke about renewable energy and emerging energy sources, and TEEX Fire and Emergency Services Associate Division Director Lee Hall presented on flammable liquid tank firefighting and green foam technologies.
Read more about TEEX’s Latin American Emergency Response Training and International Emergency Response Training.
Distributed by:
Texas A&M Engineering Extension Service
Vita Vaughn | Director of Marketing and Communications/CMO
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