Belizean firefighters are strong, caring individuals — like you — but lack equipment, technology, and training.
The Belize National Fire Service (BNFS), led by Fire Chief (July 2019) Collin Gillett , is the country’s single fire department. It protects a diverse population via 17 fire stations in six major districts or states.
Each district functions in isolation and fights fires by themselves.
No coordinated emergency response communications system exists. Each fire station receives emergency calls on its own phone number.
If firefighters are away from the station, there’s no effective means to notify them of an emergency in their area.
Personnel collect data using pen and paper with no computer system, so it is difficult to accurately track trends and impact on people’s lives.
Despite seriously lacking vehicles, equipment, technology, and training, BNFS career and volunteer firefighters work side by side with overlapping schedules to ensure that stations are staffed continuously, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Be the hero you are, by supporting the heroes they are.
Specific Equipment Needs
Here’s the specific equipment needed:
EQUIPMENT
Vehicles
- used fire engines
- used ambulances
- used aerial apparatus
- used brush trucks
- used tanker trucks
- used rescue/extrication vehicle
- used ALS QRV (quick response vehicle)
- used air utility vehicle
- used mass casualty unit/trailer
- used command SUV
- used FedEx step van to convert into hazmat units
Fire Equipment
- Turnout gear (helmet, boots, hoods, coat, bunker pants)
- Fluorescent traffic vest
SCBA(Thanks to MES for their generous donation of over 200 Scott airpacks and over 600 air bottles!)- Extinguishers
- Flares
- Box light
- Nozzles
- 100’ utility rope w/bag
- Exhaust fans
- Backboards
- All-purpose solvent absorbent pad
- Heat sensors
- Oil-absorbent pads (stacked, for fuel/oil only)
- Binoculars
- Tarps
- Flashlights
- Generator
- HURST extrication system – cutter, spreader, combo cutter/spreader/Rams
- Thermal Imaging Camera (TIC)
- Rapid-Intervention Crew (RIC) pack
- Forcible entry tools
- Airbag lifting system
- Chainsaw
- K-12
- Monitoring equipment – butane, carbon monoxide, chlorine
- Cordless power tools
- Mechanic tool set
- Halligan bar
- Pike pole
- Fire rake
- K-tool
- Fire axe
- Pry bar
- Indian pack
- Water fire extinguisher
EMS Equipment
- Stretchers w/locking brackets
- Binoculars
- Flares
- Flashlights
- Oropharyngeal airways (OPA)
- Nasopharyngeal airways (NPA)
- Self-inflating bag-valve mask devices
- Masks for bag-valve-mask device
- AED (Automated External Defibrillator)
- Non-rebreather masks
- Nasal cannulas
- Portable and vehicle-mounted oxygen
- Portable and vehicle-mounted suction (portable suction must include regulator)
- Suction catheters (must include pediatric tonsil-tip sizes 6F-14F)
- Stethoscopes
- Blood pressure cuffs
- Spinal & cervical stabilization devices (e.g. head blocks, C-collars, spine boards)
- Thermal blanket
- Infant convertible car seat with padding or equivalent
- Glasgow coma scale reference
- Pediatric trauma score reference
- External cardiac defibrillator
- Portable suction equipment with wide bore tubing
- Bag valve masks for infant, child, and adult
- Traction splint with appropriate accessories
- Cervical collars (various sizes)
- Large trauma dressings
- Sterile gauze pads, roller bandages
- Combi-tube
- Sterile burn sheet
- Triangular bandages
- Kits: OB and universal precautions
- 1 liter of potable water, 1 liter of saline for irrigation
- Shears,
- Penlight
- Non-sterile gloves
- PASG
- Pulse/ox
- Laryngoscope with adult, child, infant blades (straight or curved)
- Sterile endotracheal tubes for adult, child, infant
- (syringes for inflating cuffs, stylets may be used)
- Magill forceps
- Tourniquet
- Cricothyrotomy kit
- Device or method for determining blood sugar level
- Appropriate material for securing IV
- IV catheters in sizes ranging from 22 gauge to 14 gauge
- Mini-drip IV tubings (60 gtts/1cc)
- Standard IV tubing sets for volume replacement
- Training CPR manikin
- Intubation head/airway manikin
- EpiPen trainer
- PowerPoint projector
- DVD player
- EMT text
SPECIAL OPERATIONS
Water
- Used watercraft – with pumping capabilities
- Used swift water rescue gear
- Used inflatable watercraft
- Dive equipment
Technical Rescue
- Generator
- All-purpose solvent absorbent pad
- Heat sensors
- Oil-absorbent pads (stacked, for fuel/oil only)
- Binoculars
- Tarps
- Electrical cord (on reel, 125 feet)
- Flares
- Flashlights
- HURST extrication system – cutter, spreader, combo cutter /spreader/Rams
- Thermal imaging camera
- Forcible entry tools
- Airbag lifting system
- Rescue support system (RSS), strut
- Stokes rescue basket
- Chainsaw
- K-12
- Monitoring equipment – butane, carbon monoxide, chlorine
- Cordless power tools
- Mechanic tool set
- Air-purifying respirators
Hazmat
- Generator
- All-purpose solvent absorbent pad
- Heat sensors
- Kiddie pool (for decon)
- Oil-absorbent pads (stacked, for fuel/oil only)
- Binoculars
- Tarps
- Electrical cord (on reel, 125 feet)
- Flares
- Flashlights
- Thermal imaging camera
- Chemical spill kit
- Monitoring equipment – butane, carbon monoxide, chlorine
- Cordless power tools
- Mechanic tool set
- Level A-B-C entry suits
- Mass-casualty decontamination supplies
Office/Station Equipment
- Computers – desktop
- Printers
- File cabinets
- Audio/visual projector
- SCBA air compressor
- Cascade system
No equipment to give right now? No problem!