By Ben Calwell
Charleston Gazette
ST. ALBANS, W. Va. — Wednesday, Dec. 5 was an exciting day in St. Albans for Prescort Sailias and Nitron Rajabu, two firefighters visiting from Malawi in South Central Africa.
First, they woke up to snow, which they recorded with disposable cameras, and then about eight hours later, they were helping to battle a house fire on Abney Street.
Sailais and Rajabu have been in St. Albans since Nov. 29 as guests of the St. Albans Fire Department. The men are here to train and learn new techniques.
Fire Chief Steve Parsons arranged for the two men to visit after meeting them during his mission trip to Malawi last summer through the Fellowship of Christian Firefighters International.
“I went there as a missionary and covered my own costs,” Parsons said.
Parsons met Sailias and Rajabu in the city of Blantyre, where they work as firefighters. Parsons said Blantyre has a population of 1.2 million, but only five fire stations. And the stations suffer from a lack of equipment.
The city government there “is not as supportive as they should be,” Parsons said.
At Sailais and Rajabu’s station, they have one good working fire truck and a backup truck that’s not in very good condition, he said.
In addition to his missionary work in a nearby village, Parsons conducted training for firefighters in Blantyre, and he also invited Sailais and Rajabu to visit him in St. Albans for additional training.
The men accepted his offer and arrived in St. Albans on Nov. 29. They will depart on Christmas morning.
Sailais and Rajabu are experienced firefighters, but training with the St. Albans Fire Department, they are getting the chance to work with more modern equipment and learn some new firefighting and rescue techniques.
During a training session last Wednesday, Sailais and Rajabu learned about “confined space rescue” and “self-rescue” techniques, among other things, in an abandoned house off Fifth Avenue.
In the middle of training, a call came over the radio about a house fire on Abney Street. Sailais, Rajabu and other firefighters immediately stopped what they were doing and jumped on a fire truck parked outside the house.
They joined other St. Albans firefighters, as well as firefighters from the Nitro Fire Department, in battling an attic fire in the house on Abney Street.
Rajabu has 16 years of experience as a firefighter in Malawi, and Sailais has 22 years of experience. They and the other firefighters soon brought the fire under control.
As he was helping to put equipment away after the fire, Rajabu said he is learning a lot during his visit.
“The training is very fine. I’m learning a lot — knowledge is power,” Rajabu said.
Sailais said he would take what he’s learning here back to Malawi and teach it to other firefighters.
“What I’m learning here is to train others [back home],” Sailais said.
He said that he and Rajabu have made lasting friendships in St. Albans.
“The hospitality is very nice. This is the beginning of a long relationship,” he said.
Since they’ve been training in St. Albans, Parsons said the men have been on other fire calls with the department.
“They run all the calls with us,” he said.
And they stay busy with training classes. Among other topics, they’ve learned more about confined space rescue, trench rescue, auto extrication and hazardous materials response.
“They’ve also taken a class in grant writing,” Parsons said.
Sailais and Rajabu are doing well with the training.
“They are above the curve - they’re on top of their game,” said Capt. John Philpott.
Both men had not seen snow in person before. Parsons said they were out early taking pictures of it.
They were also getting used to the many restaurants in the area.
“There’s no fast food” where Rajabu and Sailais live, Parsons said.
It hasn’t been all work for the African visitors. Before they leave for home, they plan to take in a performance of the West Virginia Symphony Orchestra and travel to the New River Gorge.
Copyright 2007 Charleston Newspapers