The Janesville Gazette
JANESVILLE, Wis. —Dave Sheen never imagined he’d ever visit Africa.
It wasn’t on his list of places to travel, but he decided to go when he learned about Africa Fire Mission through Janesville Fire Chief Jim Jensen.
For 10 days last month, he became the first firefighter to represent the Janesville Fire Department and Wisconsin through the nonprofit organization.
Founded in 2013 by then Cincinnati Fire Chief Dave Moore, it empowers firefighters across Africa to get fire training and firefighter equipment, according to its website.
Sheen, 59, retired three years ago this week from the Janesville Fire Department. He said the mission’s first ever All Kenya Fire Academy was a good fit for him.
“I love teaching firefighting and fire training like mission work and have done it in the south after (Hurricane) Katrina through Cargill (United Methodist Church) but never did anything out of the country before this. What a great combination to use my skills,” he said.
Sheen was among a team of 20 U.S. firefighters who traveled more than 6,735 miles to Nairobi, Kenya, to train morethan 200 firefighters as well as dozens of community members from 47 counties.
Classroom and hands-on instruction focused on basic urban search and rescue, fire investigation, senior leadership development plus community fire prevention and response at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport and Mission of Hope International, both in Nairobi.
Sheen and four other instructors taught 65 students about urban search and rescue.
“We did classroom instruction, different drills during the week and one big drill at the end of the week,” he said.
Part of their instruction involved using hand tools to move a block of concrete up, over another obstacle and back down without touching the victim or spilling water, he said.
Sheen said one of his students had responded to three building collapses but had no formal training. The poorly equipped Nairobi Fire Service has only two working fire engines, one ladder truck and a few other assorted pieces of fire apparatus in its three stations with 156 firefighters that serve 4.8 million in Nairobi, the capital and largest city of Kenya.
“We passed on our experience and expertise plus shared the challenges we have all over the fire services in the brotherhood. We gave some empowerment for them to go back into their communities and their areas to create some solutions to their problems,” he said.
Sheen said it was a privilege to work with other fire instructors from throughout the United States on the mission trip that cost $3,000. Although he paid most of his own way, he is grateful Janesville Firefighters Local Union 580 made a donation to help fund his trip.
“I love teach firefighting, and I like to travel,” he said.
Sheen found Kenyan firefighters eager to learn.
“One guy rode three days on a bus to get to class. That impressed me,” he said.
Sheen said the Kenyans picked up quickly and applied what they learned.
For example, those who participated in the community fire prevention and response training were able to rescue a mother and child from a fire using what they had learned earlier in the week.
“That was a neat thing to know we were making a difference,” he said.
Copyright 2015 The Janesville Gazette
All Rights Reserved